Mindanao Gold Star Daily
Nitz Arancon
April 12, 2014

HUNDREDS of trees have been cut in Dansolihon without the government’s permission.

The City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (Clenro) revealed this after it seized a truckload of Falcata logs in Carmen on Thursday night.

Edwin Dael, city hall’s Clenro chief, said there were at least 30 truckloads of logs still on the ground in Dansolihon.

Authorities stopped the truck with license plates MBU-753, owned by one Elena Pantao, after it moved on the overpass in Barangay Carmen.

Dael said the truck was loaded with 439 logs.

While the government allows Falcata logs, Dael said the operation was still illegal because these were logged within a protected area in Dansolihon.

Dael said the logs were consigned to a company called REM Import/Export Enterprises based in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental.

He said the attempt to sneak the logs into the city raised serious questions that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) needs to answer.

Dael said the DENR should explain why the truck managed to pass its checkpoint in Barangay Lumbia.

“The documents are questionable. The papers show that the logs came from Talakag, Bukidnon, and that the truck supposedly left the town in April 8. And yet it reached Cagayan de Oro, April 10. This is puzzling and raises suspicions,” Dael said.

The Clenro seized the logs and impounded the truck at the City Engineer’s Office in Barangay Kauswagan.