WHAT LOG BAN!

POBLACION DISTRICT 1, SILAGO, SOUTHERN LEYTE – A large consignment of hardwood lumber measuring 1,677 board feet was intercepted here last November 4 by a government team comprised of Community Environment and Natural Resources Office personnel (CENRO) and a Regional PNP Mobile Police team led by Police Inspector Vicentito Ontuca.

Police sources claim the owner of the lumber consignment and the chainsaws was Santos Masing Labrador reportedly the son of Silago Mayor Manuel Labrador.

PNP sources claim the lumber and chainsaws were on an Izuzu Elf truck driven by Noli Andrade who is also the driver of the town’s ambulance. Arrested with Andrade were suspected chainsaw operators Jaime Coraje and Manuel Vacal and 5 others who are all residents of barangay Tubod, Silago.

According to CENRO Chief Eleno Ledivico who is based in San Juan the seized lumber were impounded at the PNP Mobile Police Office in Saint Bernard because its compound was well guarded and closer to where the contraband lumber was intercepted.

SLT tried to contact Mayor Labrador to get his side of the incident but was informed by his secretary that his cellphone was out of order. The incident shocked Silagonians because there has been a total log ban in Southern Leyte since last year and only hardwood lumber intended for public infrastructure projects could be harvested from it’s forests.

The Total Log Ban Bill which was sponsored by Congressman Roger Mercado was signed into law by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last November 14, 2009 in Malacañang Palace. (By ANTHONY KINGS)

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