ISABELA CITY, Basilan, Jan 10 (PIA) – Elements of the newly reinforced Task Force Ranao had shut down seven sawmills in the municipality of Kapai in Lanao del Sur recently as it engages in an all-out offensive against illegal logging in the province pursuant to the total log ban directives of caretaker Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
According to Hataman, the task force has recommended the filing of appropriate legal charges against some barangay officials believed to be involved in logging operation in the municipality.
The task force, headed by the Philippine Army’s 103rd infantry brigade under the command of Col. Daniel Lucero, has also apprehended around 25 truckloads of cut logs during the operation.
The Bureau of Public Information said that ARMM OIC governor Hataman reiterated his earlier pronouncement of not sparing anyone found to have culpability in the widespread illegal logging in the province, which is blamed by some to have exacerbated the flood that wreaked Iligan City.
An initial report released by Task Force Sendong, a special task force created by the regional government to investigate the matter, points to VicMar Development Corp., a Makati City-based company, as the largest logging operator in the province since 1975.
Unconfirmed reports suggests influential individuals to be behind the company, enabling it to proceed with its logging operation despite the imposition of a total log ban in the region by the two past governors of the ARMM.
In addition to a total log ban, Hataman also issued a moratorium on the issuance of private land timber permit so as not to provide loggers room for evasion. (BPIARMM/RVC-PIA9 ZBST)
