ILOILO CITY – Technology is turning out to be a boon when it comes to protecting the environment.
This after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in region 6 successfully nabbed and eventually file criminal charges against nine men suspected of illegally cutting trees inside a national park in Iloilo province.
The suspects were traced and subsequently apprehended using the DENR’s mobile app known as Landscape and Wildlife Indicator and Biodiversity Protection System Smartphone or LAWIN.
The project’s system operates web-based, open-source software called “CyberTracker” for the data collection interface and the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) for data analysis, mapping and report generation.
Facing violations of the Revised Forestry Code are Zaldy Dao-ang, Roy Flores, John Paul Galeno, and Romeo Mallorca.
They claimed that the trees were within a private property owned by Meliton Dalipe and Rogelia Mallorca.
Also charged were Jomar Ardiente Bucaling, Jay Dayandayan, Michael G. Dayandayan, Narry Banhao Francelizo, and Jerry Galeno. They were caught in the act of illegally cutting, destroying trees and collecting mahogany trees without authorization apart from using a chainsaw with expired license.
Forest guards confiscated from the group 8,517.89 board feet of mahogany trees worth P275,515 at Bulabog Putian National Park.
“Bulabog Putian is a protected area and is even called a ‘living university’ with the different plants and animal species. Violators will have to answer to the court of law,” said DENR-6 Regional Director Jim Sampulna.
Data collected by the mobile app gives national and local planners a more detailed perspective of a PA’s biodiversity and how to manage them more intelligently and efficiently.
The system was also found to be helpful in enabling wildlife patrol rangers, which are mostly community volunteers, to quickly alert wildlife officers to recent clearing of wooded areas, and allows them to upload observations and photos of signs of illegal logging as evidence, and send these photos to concerned law enforcement agencies.
(TARA D. YAP)