DENR Caraga reports reduction of illegal logging in the region

By Johny S. Natad

BUTUAN CITY, July 31 (PIA) -- Illegal logging activities in Caraga region had declined with identified hot spots down to 17 from 34, an official of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region 13 said.

DENR Caraga Regional Executive Director Nonito Tamayo said this may be attributed to the agency's intensive anti-illegal campaign as mandated in Executive Order 23.

“The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) has acknowledged and congratulated the DENR Caraga in its anti-illegal logging campaign during an evaluation recently made this year for reducing the illegal logging incident by 70 percent in the region,” Tamayo told the Butuan City Peace and Order Council in a meeting on July 26.

Tamayo added that the Philippine National Policed and the military forces had provided support for the DENR's intensive anti-illegal logging campaign.

Confiscated forest products are available for utilization by any interested government agencies upon formal request to the DENR, Tamayo said.

He said that the DENR Caraga had donated to Butuan City government 138,211.72 board feet of confiscated lumber worth some P3.5 million. (FEA/JSN/PIA-Caraga)