NORTH COTABATO, Philippines – Local executives are seeking the relief of the Army's 6th Infantry Division commander following the foiled attempt last week by his subordinates to sneak out lumbers from a protected forestland in Alamada town in the province.
The commander of 6th ID, Major Gen. Romeo Gapuz, is due to retire by April 2014, according to his subordinate-officers in the division.
Local officials told reporters, during the other day’s inter-agency provincial peace and order council meeting in Kidapawan City, that the Lawaan flitches, called “tablon†in the vernacular, which policemen intercepted more than a week ago while being hauled from Alamada to Midsayap town in North Cotabato, was only about one-fourth of the total volume of lumbers the soldiers, led by Captain Sarcon Anggui, were to deliver somewhere in the province.
“We have been receiving information that there were about 11 truckloads of lumbers the soldiers were to smuggle out. Fortunately, they were intercepted by policemen in Alamada even before they could bring out the illegal forest products,†one of the local officials, who asked not to be identified, said.
An escort of Anggui, Cpl. Unting Guiabel, was shot in the leg by a policeman for refusing to yield when they were flagged down for inspection, while on board the two Army trucks carrying the lumbers.
Col. Dickson Hermoso, inspector-general of 6th ID, had told Catholic station dxMS in Cotabato City that they are now wrapping up their investigation on the incident.
The seized forest products are presently impounded at the compound of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office at the town proper of Midsayap in the first district of the province.
A renowned peace advocate and environmentalist, Oblate priest Eliseo Mercado, Jr., director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, said residents of Alamada should demand a probe on the smuggling attempt by a “third party†comprised of representatives from independent cause-oriented groups, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and local government units in North Cotabato.
“This is a very serious concern. This should be investigated by an impartial body as soon as possible,†Mercado said.
Mercado said the investigation being initiated by the 6th ID on the controversy is solely for the purpose of determining the culpability of the soldiers involved in the smuggling attempt.
Hermoso had said they will file administrative cases against Anggui and his men for their offense.
“There must be a parallel effort to unmask who could be providing protection to the illegal logging activity in the area where the forest products were harvested, and why were soldiers involved. There are many questions that hang above our heads,†said Mercado, who is involved in various projects complementing the Mindanao peace process.
Local executives in North Cotabato are convinced Anggui and his men would not haul the seized forest products from Alamada to Midsayap without an “order†from a certain superior.
The lumbers were cut from timbers harvested illegally from a public land in Alamada, which is reportedly being claimed by relatives of a retired Army officer. - John Unson