Fight vs illegal logging, graft a ‘top priority’ — DENR chief

Environment chief Ramon Paje said Wednesday that fighting illegal logging and corruption within his agency’s ranks remains as his “top priority." Paje made the statement amid criticisms from local groups on corrupt officials in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources allegedly conspiring with illegal loggers, who supposedly contribute in the rising number of killings among forest workers in the country. “The DENR has not wavered in its fight against illegal logging and other environmental law violations. Despite the threat and harassment, the government is making headways against illegal logging," he said in a statement Wednesday. Paje said the department’s anti-illegal logging campaign, “Oplan Kalasangan," has already yielded 2.9 million board feet of illegally sourced timber from the Cagayan Valley and Eastern Mindanao since July, despite continued threats on forest protection officers. The department, under his watch, has reduced the number of forestry checkpoints in the country from 274 to 117 “essential" checkpoints after receiving reports that corruption takes place in these areas, he added. Paje assured forest protection officers working for the department that government is finding ways to address “head on" the various threats on their lives allegedly from illegal loggers and communist rebels. Malacañang has vowed to beef up the department’s anti-illegal logging task force with police and military assistance, the DENR chief said. “We know very well the hazards being faced by our own people in the field… They are actually playing with death every time they are sent out to check on reports of illegal logging incidences. But then, this is our job," he said. The DENR earlier raised the alarm over increasing incidents of killing among forest rangers, especially in the timber-rich areas in Mindanao. — JE/VS, GMANews.TV