Kampo Ranao, Marawi City. Troops from the 64th Infantry Battalion, 6th Infantry Division, Philippine Army under Lt Colonel Rolando E Nerona apprehended five (5) vehicles carrying an estimated total of eleven thousand six hundred (11,600) board feet of undocumented lumbers reportedly owned by Aliodin and Maoi, both residents of Marawi City, Lanao del Sur. The lumbers were being transported to Marawi City when soldiers manning the COMELEC checkpoint at Brgy Dualay West of the city stopped them at about 2:30 in the morning of April 6, 2010.
The soldiers increased their vigilance against unscrupulous people who transport illegally cut logs, especially after the pronouncement of Acting Governor Ansaruddin Alonto Adiong of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) that he favors a total log ban in the region.
Lately, the issue on illegal logging around Lake Lanao has become a grave concern especially with the frequent brownouts affecting not only the island of Mindanao but also the rest of the country. Water in the said lake has decreased to a critical level thereby affecting the seven (7) Agus hydroelectic power plants, in which only five (5) are currently operational. Based on the NPC assessment result, the El Nino phenomenon we are experiencing at present is not the only cause of the lake’s water level drop. Improper watershed management, wherein illegal logging is part of, has been likewise identified as the culprit.
“We will increase our efforts against illegal logging. The COMELEC checkpoints that we have established to implement the gun ban will also check the transport of illegal lumbers in Lanao del Sur,” said BGen Rey C Ardo, the Commander of the 103rd Infantry (Haribon) Brigade based in
“With the prevailing situation, there is a need to support the revival of Save Lake Lanao Movement (SALAM) initiated by the Lake Lanao Development Authority. Members of the SALAM and the local executives must join hands in the advocacy against illegal logging to protect the watershed of the country’s largest freshwater lake, from which more than half of Mindanao’s energy needs are sourced. Your AFP, on the other hand, will always be in support of such advocacy since sound environmental management is part of our internal security operations,” he concluded.
The confiscated illegally cut logs with the vehicles are presently impounded in Kampo Ranao,
PHILIP JAMES MONGAYA TREMEDAL
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