Truckload of hot logs intercepted in Aurora

MA. AURORA, Aurora , Philippines  – A truckload carrying at least 2,000 board feet of illegally sawn lumber was seized here by operatives of the provincial police in this town as illegal loggers ignore the call of Sen. Edgardo Angara to stop destroying the forests in the province, whose forest cover is considered the densest nationwide.

In a report to Chief Superintendent Arturo Cacdac, regional police director for Central Luzon, provincial police director Senior Superintendent Romulo Esteban said the five-tonner truck (UUG-532) was confiscated by elements of the local police under Police Inspector Michael Amio and the provincial public safety company in Barangay Galintuja here at the boundary of Aurora and Nueva Vizcaya.

Esteban said the “hot cargo” came from Barangay Bazal here and was to be delivered to the municipality of Alfonso Castañeda, Nueva Vizcaya. Esteban said lawmen arrested a certain Francisco Minor, 36, of Barangay Lub-lub, Alfonso Castañeda. However, the driver and other persons escorting the vehicle managed to escape.

The seized cargo was temporarily stored in the police station in Alfonso Castañeda after the truck encountered engine trouble. He said his men also seized 663 board feet of abandoned sawn lumbers in Barangay Diamanen, Dipaculao.

The twin seizures came two weeks after Angara, a native of the capital town of Baler, appealed to residents of this town to stop the practice of illegal logging to preserve its natural resources and environment for future generations. 

In a speech during the inauguration ceremony for a micro-hydro power plant in Sitio Dimotol, Dianawan here, Angara said the province prides in having a 76 percent forest cover with abundant water resource. He said the town alone, with an elevation between 300 to 500 meters above sea level, is ideal for vegetable growing.

He lamented, however, that some local residents are not concerned with protecting and preserving the lush forest and vegetation because they engage in kaingin (slash-and-burn farming) which is destructive to the environment.

“This is bad. We have to stop this, or else we won’t have no more water and electricity for our future generations,” he said.