A woman who propagated agarwood sans permit was arrested in San Fernando, Cebu.

Operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) conducted a recent operation in Barangay Sangat, San Fernando against the woman for growing approximately a thousand seedlings of agarwood, described to be critically endangered.

The woman has propagated agarwood seedlings in her backyard and sells these online.

There is high global demand for agarwood in the scents industry, its resin being an ingredient in the manufacture of perfume.

However, according to the authorities, the trade of agarwood is strictly prohibited under the Wildlife Resources Conservation Act.

Growing agarwood needs a permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

"Caught in the act of selling and dispensing agarwood, first time law enforcement operation was conducted about agarwood locally known as lapnisan,” said Arnel Pura, supervising agent of NBI Cebu District Office.

Resin from agarwood is expensive which makes growing very tempting. 

“Very lucrative nito, mahal yung resin na galing sa agarwood, costs about 100,000 dollars, about 5M per kilo. More valuable than gold – gamit [sa] perfumery, gawaan ng perfume,” Bienvenido Panican, executive officer for operations of NBI-CEBDO, said.

The woman, who requested not to be named, explained that she has grown agarwood from Basilan. She said she has been trying to grow the species through trial and error efforts, as success in germination proves to be very low.

She, however, admitted she failed to secure a permit.

“Dugay-dugay na pero karon ra jud ni-success og germinate. Kay lisod man gyud i-germinate kay usahay madawat nako nga binhi linghod pa. Ni-success siya’g turok gaplano ko mokuha ko’g permit,” she said.

Charges for violation of the Wildlife Resources Conservation Act will be filed against the suspect.