THE military warned on Saturday illegal loggers that are operating in the Eastern Mindanao region to stop abusing the declining natural resources in the area to prevent more disasters.
The warning was issued by Colonel Ronald Albano, commander of the Army’s 402nd Infantry Brigade in the aftermath of devastation in Mindanao brought by a strong typhoon last month.
“Our efforts are a continuing reminder or warning to illegal loggers to stop abusing our natural resources, especially forest reserves… this needs to be stopped before it gets back to us,” Albano said in a statement.
Typhoon Pablo wreck havoc in Mindanao and Visayas region early December last year leaving more than a thousand people dead and hundreds missing with damage to properties reaching to over P30 billion.
“The calamities that passed must be our lesson that we must give importance to our environment because in times, our environment may mitigate or aggravate the effects of natural calamities to our lives and properties,” Albano said.
The official said that army units under the army 4th Infantry Division have seized more than 100 cubic meters of illegally cut logs worth over P600, 000 in a series of anti-logging operation early this month in Agusan del Sur and Agusan del Norte.
The anti-illegal logging operation of the units of 4ID resulted to the confiscation of 115.99 cubic meters lauan logs, 7.6 cubic meters falcate logs and 19.79 cubic meters of assorted logs which totaled to 143.38 cubic meters worth P627, 918.00.
The anti-illegal logging operations in Agusan del Sur area were undertaken by the troops of 26th Infantry Battalion while in Agusan del Norte area was through the efforts of the army’s 3rd Special Forces Battalion.
The army official said that all anti-illegal logging operations in the region were conducted in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resource personnel and Local Government Unit’s representative.