DAVAO CITY July 26 (PIA)- Newly designated Depatment of Environment and Natural Resources Regional Director Joselin Marcus Fragada, said he would be establishing safety nets to curb smuggling of forest resources from Region XI.
“We’d like to find a way to regulate the shipment of logs from the region.” Fragada said during his guesting at Club 888 Media Forum held last Wednesday (July 25) at the Marco Polo Davao hotel.
Among the moves is the reduction of anti-illegal logging checkpoints to curb corruption. He says those checkpoints left standing should be honest-to-goodness checkpoints.
Other plan is the closure of illegal sawmills in the region particularly in Davao Oriental. Those sawmills with no supply contracts would be the first to go. According to DENR-XI data, there are about 158 wood processing plants in the region of which 70 are still operating.
He said the DENR is eyeing to reactivate the Port Integrated Clearance Office (PICO) which is composed of different government agencies including the DENR to check the shipments before they are loaded into the ships.
Last June 29, about 55 container vans laden with P16-milliom worth of illegal forest products from Davao were seized in Manila’s Pier 16, the port of origin. The seizure led to the relief of various regional DENR officials led by then Regional Director Jim Sampulna.
In his defense, the former regional head said that the forest goods were inside a closed container van and had no probable cause to warrant the opening of the said vans, Warrantless searches on closed container vans is a power vested upon the Bureau of Customs alone and not with the DENR.
Under the proposed set-up container vans should first get permits from the DENR thru the PICO. Fragada said that they are initializing the establishment of PICO inside the Davao Port. They are also identifying three local government operated ports and one private port in the region where the PICO could be set-up. For private ports the DENR-XI head said would need the permission of the port owner.
They are also anticipating the acquisition of walleye imaging systems which are hand-held x-rays that could see through solid container vans. Using this technology Fragada says will not necessitate the opening of container vans.
He said that the DENR is in the process of acquiring the Walleye and said that they are expecting two units to be given to the region.
Another strategy is making shipping lines accountable and liable for the contraband they transport. This will make the carriers become more responsible in checking what cargoes they are transporting.
Fragada said that with these safety nets they are confident that no illegally cut lumber will be shipped out of the Davao (PIA 11/RG Alama)
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