SURIGAO del Sur Gov. Alexander Pimentel has urged the environment and interior departments to conduct a thorough probe on alleged illegal activities in the province’s Cantilan town where 17,000 board feet of illegally-cut lumber were recently seized by local officials.
Pimentell said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Interior and Local Government should look into why illegal tree cutting activities are rampant in Cantilan even if the Community Environment Natural Resources Office (CENTRO), under the management of Marslou Bonita, is located in the town.
On Friday, Pimentel joined policemen and representatives from CENRO Cantilan in conducting an anti-illegal logging raid at a riverside compound in Purok-2 in Barangay Tapi and seized 17,000 board feet of illegally-sawn lumber worth approximately P500,000.
The seized lumbers were said to be owned by Barangay Tapi chairman Noel “Tiger” Azarcon, whom Pimentel said is a known political ally of Cantilan Mayor Carla Pichay and Surigao del Sur Rep. Butch Pichay.
