A joint operation of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)-Environmental Crime Division, NBI-Lucena District Office, and Community Environment and Natural Resource Office (CENRO) Tayabas City, in coordination with the Philippine National Police Mauban-Municipal Police Station, resulted in the arrest of three (3) suspects who were caught in the act of illegally cutting and possession of the various tree species in Sitio Villamos, Brgy. Cagsiay II, Mauban, Quezon on August 16, 2023.

There were nine (9) pieces of logs of different species composed of Tanguisang Bayawak, Duguan, Tibig, Pilaway Gubat, Kalantas, and Balobo, with an aggregate volume of 3.99 cubic meters or equivalent to 1,691.76 board feet, and one (1) unit of chainsaw were apprehended during the operation.

The apprehension is in line with the anti-illegal logging campaign of the DENR and in response to the information received from a concerned citizen regarding some individuals engaged in cutting, transporting, and selling forest products from the thick forest area of the said barangay, without a permit from the DENR.

Moreover, in continuous surveillance monitoring/patrolling within the same barangay, the composite team also apprehended/confiscated, in the possession of a certain John Joseph Potestades y Diaz, a total of eighty-eight (88) pieces of sawn lumbers of Amlang, Tibig, and White Lauan species with a total volume of undocumented 845.09 board feet of forest products.

The NBI-Environmental Crime Division, NBI-LUCDO, and CENRO Tayabas immediately filed a case against the four (4) suspects at the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor Mauban, Quezon. This is in accordance with and violates Section 77 of Presidential Decree No. 705, otherwise known as the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines, as amended by Republic Act 7161, and RA 9175 or the Chainsaw Act of 2002.

CENRO Tayabas expresses a stark reminder to the public not to engage in similar illegal activities in light of these incidents.###

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Parent Category: News & Events
Category: Press Releases
Published: 07 September 2023