AN official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Monday said the flooding in Cagayan and Isabela provinces early this month cannot be blamed to illegal logging activities.
Antonio A. Abawag, DENR regional executive director in the Cagayan Valley, said based on the assessment made by the DENR which he personally led, there’s no evidence of new or freshly cut, or illegally cut trees in the area, even as piles of driftwood were seen floating along with other debris in the floodwaters in the City of Ilagan in Isabela during the flood after heavy rains brought about by the northeast monsoon.
“There is no evidence of freshly cut or illegally cut trees,” Abawag said.
The driftwood, he said, are damaged uprooted shrubs and swept down hill from the mountains and forests in the City of Ilagan.
“These are previously damaged trees probably due to the strong typhoons that hit Region 2 before,” the top DENR official in the Cagayan Valley said.
Abawag said the Regional Anti-Illegal Logging Task Force (RAILTF) has intensified the campaign against forest destruction in Region 2, being a transshipment point of illegal forest products, and has been successful in doing so.
Earlier, Abawag ordered the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources officers to closely coordinate with the battalion and unit commanders of the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police in conducting anti-illegal logging operations.
The DENR is now conducting an inventory of the uprooted and drifted logs and has requested the assistance of local officials in the provinces of Isabela and Cagayan to determine the volume of drifted logs that are stockpiled, especially within private lands in Barangays Marana Second and Allinguigan second, both in the City of Ilagan.