Police seize illegal timber aboard fish truck

By Delfin Mallari Jr.
Southern Luzon Bureau

LUCENA CITY, Philippines -- A delivery truck carrying illegal logs in a town in Quezon province was seized by authorities, police has said.
Police said the truck, which had “Fish Dealer” printed on both sides of the vehicle, instead contained an estimated 7.08 cubic meters (3,000 board feet) of undocumented narra flitches hidden under stacks of empty styropore boxes.
These were seized by combined elements of police forces and environmental group around 1:00 a.m. Thursday along the Maharlika Highway diversion road in the nearby town of Pagbilao.
The police and volunteer fish examiner group Tagasuri ng Isda sa Quezon (TNIQUE), were conducting regular checkpoints against traders of illegally caught fish when they intercepted the Izusu Forward truck (plate no. UAL 672).
The police ordered the truck driver, Blandino Estrobillo, resident of Gubat, Sorsogon, to open the back of the vehicle for inspection but he refused and insisted that there was nothing illegal in his cargo.
Zenaida Bernal, coastal and marine program officer of Tanggol Kalikasan-Southern Luzon, said the driver and his three truck helpers kept on insisting that they were only carrying several boxes of “tamban” to be delivered to a smoked-fish factory in Manila.
“But we sensed something fishy [with the cargo] because if it’s really fish, there ought to be water dripping from the vehicle, but there was none,” Bernal said.
When the driver finally agreed to open his truck, piles of narra timber covered by canvass were found concealed behind a single layer of styropore boxes. Rows of boxes atop the vehicle also covered the illegal pile.
The suspects failed to present transport documents for the cargo which prompted the checkpoint personnel to confiscate the delivery truck and the lumber.
The suspects, now detained at the Pagbilao town jail, disclosed that the cargo originated from Bulan, Sorsogon and was to be delivered to still undisclosed furniture shops.
Senior Superintendent Hernando Zafra, Quezon police chief, said he ordered Quezon police investigation and intelligence operatives to conduct regular checkpoints along the Maharlika Highway to stop the illicit activities of traders.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has yet to document the total volume of the timber seized.
Quoting the initial assessment from the DENR staff, environmentalist lawyer Sheila de Leon from Tanggol Kalikasan, said the amount of confiscated timber could reached up to P1 million, including forest charges.
The issuance of special permits for the cutting and transporting of narra has been suspended by the DENR.
Narra is used for high-class furniture and cabinets, decorative veneer, interior wall paneling, feature flooring, among others.
Last month, the combined police operatives and Tanggol Kalikasan volunteers also confiscated a total of 11.4 cubic meters (4,831 board feet) of illegally-cut lauan wood, said to have come from Camarines Sur, on board a t10-wheeler truck in Atimonan town.
Originally posted at 11:59am