Former Montalban Mayor, Engineer Charged by the Ombudsman

SAN MATEO, RIZAL – The Office of the Ombudsman ordered recently the filing of criminal charges against a former mayor and municipal engineer in Rodriguez, Rizal for illegal possession of forest products worth more than Php 9 million.

Ordered charged for violation of section 77 of Presidential Decree 705, as amended by Executive Order 277 and Republic Act 7161, otherwise known as the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines, were former Montalban mayor Pedro Cuerpo and engineer Aristotle Cruz, then officer-in-charge of the municipal motor pool.

The case stemmed from the complaint filed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer (DENR-CENRO) sometime in October 2005.

DENR-CENRO alleged that on June 20, 2005, it received a memorandum from CENRO informing the officer-in-charge of Montalban Multi-Purpose Center and team leader of Patrol Sector No. 1 on the presence of illegally-cut timber products stockpiled inside the Montalban slaughterhouse in barangay San Jose.

The environment operatives conducted a surveillance/verification of the report and eventually secured a search warrant from San Mateo Regional Trial Court judge Elizabeth Balquin-Reyes.

In the course of the implementation of the search warrant, fresh cut manufactured timber products (tanguile and lauan) consisting of 4,066 pieces with an aggregate volume of 28,050 board feet amounting to more than Php 9 million, were seized under the possession of Cruz inside the motor pool and not inside the slaughterhouse.

Cruz admitted the products were brought from the mountains of Montalban which was delivered in June 2005 to the town’s motor pool.

According to the complaint, the DENR was not able to haul the timber products due to the intervention of Cuerpo.

In a 17-page resolution, acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro said the “case records readily show that there was irregularity in the act of the respondents in using illegally cut timber in manufacturing school armchairs, as they reasoned out.”

The anti-graft office said only the DENR has the exclusive authority to confiscate illegally cut logs

It added that forestry law dictates: “All seized/confiscated conveyances shall be declared forfeited in favor of the government . . . which can be used at the disposition of the DENR in forest protection and development activities or be disposed through public bidding by the secretary or the regional offices as the case may be . . .”