ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanews/27 July) – The Anti-illegal Logging Task Force has confiscated some P1.
2 million worth of supposedly illegally cut hard wood species and arrested three people in this city, an environment official disclosed
on Friday.
Ben Acana, head of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO)-West, said the seizure came after they raided last Tuesday the compound of Ever World Trading Corp.
in Barangay Canelar.
Acana said that Ever World is into the business of “planted trees.
”
Arrested were Laura Cabrejas, Fe Faustino and Christine San Juan, all workers of Ever World, Acana said.
Acana said the confiscation came after the conduct of a week-long surveillance following an intelligence report received by the task force last July 16.
“We applied for a search warrant last Monday and conducted the raid the next day,” he added.
The three arrested suspects were temporarily released Friday after they posted a bail of P40,000 each, he said.
He said a case will also be filed against Ever World proprietor Elsie Saavedra, who was not around when the raid was conducted.
The trees, composed of Narra and Lauan species, were believed to have been cut from the site of the reforestation projects of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on the eastern part of this city, he said.
An investigation is underway to determine who are behind the cutting of the trees at the DENR reforestation project sites, he said. (MindaNews)
