DENR team seizes P2.9M worth of 'hot' lumber

MANILA, Philippines - A crack team of environmental law enforcers seized some P2.9 million worth of suspected illegally-cut narra and assorted lumber products in a lumberyard in Meycauayan, Bulacan Wednesday. The Environmental Law Enforcement Task Force (ELETF) swooped down on the Oriental Wood Processing Corp. (OWPC), and seized 1,541 pieces of narra wood (14,298 board feet) valued at P1.7 million. "For its maiden operation, a catch this big is a good precursor of what is yet we are to see from the team in the days ahead," said DENR secretary Jose Atienza Jr. on the Environment Department website. Also discovered during the search were 2,734 pieces of mixed construction wood, including white lauan and tanguile, worth around P1.19 million (35,080 board feet). The confiscated products can fill three 10-wheeler trucks. Citing reports from ELETF executive director retired police Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong, Atienza said the narra wood bore no DENR hatchet marks. The rest of the seized forest products showed signs that they were cut into smaller pieces using chainsaws, fueling suspicions that the wood products were illegally sourced from timber poachers. DENR field forestry officers use specially-designed hatchets as part of a monitoring mechanism to easily identify legitimately sourced timber products. OWPC management failed to present documents for the wood products, prompting the ELEF agents to issue corresponding apprehension receipts. ELETF agents conducted an on-site inventory of the contraband as documentary evidence against OWPC's owners for violation of Presidential Decree 705 or the Revised Philippine Forestry Code. Wood products sold by OWPC should only be bought from legitimate wood suppliers as stated in their permits issued by the DENR. The firm is a holder of lumber dealer permit which is to expire on September 10, 2009 but its environmental compliance certificate for its kiln drying plant expired on March 19, 2004. ELETF agents conducted the raid following a tip. - GMANews.TV