HOT LOGS. Workers unload for documentation the illegal teakwood from Albuera, Leyte after the DENR confiscation in the Ouano Wharf in Mandaue City.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Central Visayas seized almost P800,000 worth of teak lumber on Thursday, the agency’s biggest confiscation in two years.
A trailer truck loaded with at least 917 pieces of teak lumber, equivalent to 8,732 board feet disembarked from a Ro-Ro vessel at the Ouano Wharf in Mandaue City last April 3 at 1 p.m.
The lumber and truck were confiscated after inconsistencies of information were noted in the shipment documents.
A form covering the shipment was also improperly issued by the Centro officer of Albuera, Leyte province.
He will be sent a notice of hearing for administrative proceedings, said DENR 7 Regional Executive Director Dr. Isabelo R. Montejo in a press statement.
The truck was intercepted inside the Ouano wharf in Mandaue City by a four-member investigating team after receiving a tip on the illegal shipment.
“It has to be stressed here that the transport of forest products should be covered with original documents for monitoring and controlling purposes and the entries should be consistent with the actual kind of species and quantity of forest products and other details,” he said.
According to Raul Pasoc, chief of CENRO’s forest management section, who led the investigation, the wrong plate numbers were indicated in the Self-Monitoring Form (SMF).
The form also expired last April 2.
He said an SMF should not have been issued by the Cenro of Albuera, Leyte Euegene Mozo since teak trees are a premium hardwood species.
Instead, a special private land timber permit should have been secured.
This can be issued by the regional executive director for volumes not exceeding 10 cubic meters.
The confiscated lumber is believed to have come from barangay Puertobello, Merida, Leyte province.
The lumber with the trailer are now deposited at the Community Envrionment Natural Resources (Cenro) Cebu City for safekeeping. They will be used as evidence in the administrative seizure proceedings.
Teakwood (Tectona grandis) is commonly used for shipbuilding, fine furniture, door and window frames, wharves, bridges, cooling-tower louvres, flooring, paneling, railway cars, and venetian blinds.
Citing violation of section 77 of Presidential Decree (PD) 705 as amended by Executive Order No. 277 and as renumbered by Republic Act 7161.