ABSTRACT
On 06 June 1994 ... Undersecretary Ben S. Malayang III, in his capacity as Acting Secretary, issued a memorandum to the Regional Executive Director concerned instructing the latter to release temporarily said five trucks upon representation made by Rep. Rodolfo Albano of Isabela ... CLLMI had been sternly warned previously under the memorandum dated 18 March 1993 of Undersecretary Umali not to repeat its offense of hauling abandoned logs without proper authority from the DENR By again hauling without authority abandoned logs as reported by DENR Region II, CILMI, in utter defiance of said warning, violated pertinent forestry laws and regulations ... 'what aggravated further CLLMI's case was that five (5) of the twelve (12) apprehended truckloads of undocumented logs escaped while being escorted by the concerned authorities for custody and further investigation. Such a contemptuous act against authorities only reinforced the earlier findings that CLLMI is deep into illegal logging activities using its timber license to legitimize such activities. As the old Dictum goes: flight is an indication of guilt. (DENR Secretary's Order of Cancellation of Timber Licensing Agreement No. 105 [Consolidated Logging and Lumber Mills, Inc.] 12 Oct. 1994)
lion's share in the extraction of premium timber species from this rugged mountain range in north-eastern Luzon, bordered to the east by the Pacific Ocean and to the west by the floodplains of the Cagayan river, which springs from these mountains. "''hen the joint environmental research programme of Lei den University and Isabela State University started here in 1990, we planned to conduct field studies inside the logging concession, but despite repeated requests to such effect, we have long (and in the case of CLLMI always) been unable to do so. The logpond and sawmill of the concession holder remained hidden behind a large steel fence and guarded by private guards holding automatic rifles. A visit to the cutting area was denied to us by a visibly tense forester working for the concession. He claimed it would be unsafe for us to study their logging operations as these could only take place under the protection of the concessionaire's armed men, in view of the presence of 'insurgents' in the cutting area.
