Rampant illegal logging at Aurora nat'l park hit

BALER, Aurora – Illegal logging has gone rampant inside the 5,676 hectare Aurora Memorial National Park with illegal loggers, many of whom heavily armed, imposing their will on law enforcers. A provincial board member said that illegal loggers have feasted on forest products inside the park, sneaking out thousands of board feet of logs, particularly at nighttime.

During the regular session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan at the provincial Capitol Tuesday afternoon, Board Member Mariano Tangson decried that illegal loggers have invaded the park without being detected by the Philippine National Police and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. “Grabe na talaga ang illegal logging (Illegal logging has gone worse),” he said before the SP presided by Vice Gov. Gerry Noveras. Tangson, also decried that illegal logging goes on unabated despite the presence of a DENR sub-office and police detachment in Sitio Dimani, Barangay Villa.

Barangay Villa has become notorious due to illegal logging after calamities in 2004 triggered flash floods that destroyed a steel bridge and killed 13 people. The SP earlier summoned PNP provincial director, Senior Superintendent Romeo Teope and other police, DENR and barangay officials to shed light on the rampant illegal logging at the AMNP.

On Monday night, authorities recovered 1,000 board feet of abandoned logs at Dimani. Two weeks ago, a truckload of logs fell on its side because it was heavy with logs, also in Dimani.

Illegal logging was also blamed for the two-day brownout which struck Ma. Aurora town over the weekend when cut logs fell into power lines Saturday. 

Tangson, a former three-term mayor of San Luis town, said the PNP appears helpless in stopping logging at the park, even with a police contingent assigned at the site. “It’s so brazen, it’s an eyesore that in Aurora, vehicles loaded with illegal logs pass through the checkpoints of the DENR and the PNP and they don’t see it. I don’t know if they don’t see it or they are playing blind to what is happening),” he said.

Last month, Tangson said in a privilege speech that an average of 70,000 to 80,000 board feet of illegal logs are being spirited out of the park monthly. They are being loaded in kolong kolong (tricycles) particularly during nighttime, he said. Citing unnamed sources, he said around 130 illegal loggers are involved in the massive destruction of forest resources inside the park.

Teope said illegal loggers at the park are heavily armed. He said the police force should be augmented by producing more warm bodies to form a united front against the perpetrators. “If you have only a few bodies to man the park, it’s like feeding them to the wolves,” he said, adding that they are outnumbered by the illegal loggers.

Inspector Michael Amio, Ma. Aurora police chief, said while they were bent on stopping illegal logging, they could not do so without the cooperation of barangay folk.

Victorino Supsup, barangay chairman of Villa, said illegal loggers have devised ways to avoid detection by police. He said chainsaws used in felling down logs are equipped with silencers. Afterwards, the chainsaws are being buried in pits and covered with soil to avoid getting confiscated by authorities.

Supsup said he brought up the matter to the attention of Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo, saying they fear for their lives. “Please protect us,” he pleaded the board members.

The hearing heated up after Tangson claimed that illegal logging became worse at the park when Teope assumed his post last year from Senior Superintendent Teodoro Saclolo.