Former Rizal mayor, engineer face criminal raps

MANILA, Philippines - For illegal possession of over P9 million worth of wood, the Office of the Ombudsman yesterday ordered the filing of criminal charges against a former mayor of Rodriguez, Rizal.

Aside from former mayor Pedro Cuerpo, acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro also ordered the filing of charges against engineer Aristotle Cruz who headed the Rodriguez municipal motorpool six years ago.

Cuerpo and Cruz will face trial for violation of the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines and other laws based on a complaint filed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (DENR-CENRO) on Oct. 19, 2005.

On June 20 that year, the DENR said it received a memorandum from the CENRO on the presence of illegally cut wood products stockpiled inside the Rodriguez slaughterhouse in Barangay San Jose.

Inspectors verified the report and eventually secured a search warrant from the San Mateo regional trial court.

During the search, freshly cut tanguile and lauan wood with a volume of 28,050 board feet and valued at more than P9 million were seized in Cruz’s possession in the motorpool, not in the slaughterhouse.

Cruz admitted that the wood products were brought from the mountain of Barangay Rodriguez and delivered to the motorpool in June 2005.

DENR personnel said they were not eventually able to confiscate the timber products due to Cuerpo’s alleged intervention.

The complaint added that tools and equipment used in manufacturing school armchairs had no permit, license or legal documents from the DENR.

In a 17-page resolution, the Ombudsman said the records “readily show that there was irregularity in the act of the respondents in using illegally cut timber in manufacturing school armchairs.”

The Ombudsman said only the DENR has the exclusive authority to confiscate illegally cut logs and decide on their disposal through forest protection and development activities or public bidding.