BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya (PIA) - -  Joint personnel of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Philippine National Police (PNP) have arrested three persons and confiscated illegal narra lumbers in Aritao town.

Jay Marcial Jasmin, officer-in-charge of the DENR-Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (DENR-PENRO) here said the seizure and arrest of timber poaching suspects were part of their intensified Anti-Illegal Timber Poaching  Operation.

He said the 69 pieces of narra lumbers worth close to P1 million loaded inside a Mitsubishi Close Van with Plate Number CBN 7989 was discovered at the DENR checkpoint in Barangay Calitlitan in Aritao town.

“Three suspects were also arrested and are now filed with corresponding case for violating the Presidential Decree 705 or the  Forestry Reform Code,” Jasmin said.

He said they will sustain their vigilance for violators of PD 705 as many attempts to transport illegal lumbers were stopped in the previous years.

Jasmin said DENR Regional Executive Director Gwendolyn Bambalan has ordered an intensified vigilance and operation against violators of PD 705 in Cagayan Valley region. (OTB/BME/PIA NVizcaya)