DENR taps military's help in anti-logging drive

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines  – The military has been mandated to  help the Environment department to stop illegal logging in Northern and Central Luzon.

The National Anti-illegal Logging Task Force has ruled to hand over the task from civilian to the military on the heels of the killing of two DENR officials while carrying out their anti-illegal logging duties.

Earlier,  lady forester Melania Derain was killed inside the DENR office in Cagayan, while Alfredo Almuedo, City Environment and Natural Resources Officer in Quirino was killed while manning a checkpoint.

Illegal logging operators are being suspected to have hatched the murders of the foresters.

DENR-Cordillera executive director Clarence Baguilat reported that Task Force came out with Resolution No. 1 series of 2013 amending an earlier resolution that places the anti-illegal logging drive in Mindanao from civilian  personnel to military personnel.

The multi-agency national task force crafted the resolution adding four regions in Northern and Central Luzon’s anti-illegal logging drives from civilian to military hands, giving the drive more teeth.

Newly-covered by the military in anti-illegal drive are provinces that cover the Sierra Madre and Cordillera forests which are vital sources of timber products and are covered by the ongoing moratorium on logging by virtue of Executive Order 23 by President Benigno Aquino III last year.

The presence of the military in areas such as the boundary of Cagayan and Apayao will bring the agency’s efforts in curbing illegal logging to hard to reach areas. - Artemio A. Dumlao