TUBLAY, Benguet: A 21-year old man was arrested by authorities after he was caught transporting 400 pieces of illegally sawn lumber, following a brief chase here at dawn on Friday.The police identified the arrested individual as Rheygan Bongkili Sote, a resident of Caliking, Atok, Benguet.Personnel from the Tublay Municipal Police Station were conducting border patrol at Km. 20, Barangay Ambassador when they tried to flag down a truck. But the driver reportedly did not stop and sped away.A few hundred meters away, however, the truck suddenly stopped and the driver tried to escape.The patrolling police operatives chased the fleeing individual using their mobile patrol car, until they caught him along the Labey-Lacamen provincial road.During the inspection of the truck, probers discovered 400 pieces of illegally sawn lumber as the driver failed to present any permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).The seized lumber, each measuring 2x3x10, had a total volume of approximately 2,000 board feet, with a market value of more than P104,000.The arrested individual was brought to the Tublay Municipal Police Station for documentation and for the filing of the charges for violation of the pertinent provisions of Presidential Decree 705 or the Forestry Reform Code of the Philippines against him before the provincial prosecutor's office. The seized lumber and vehicle were brought to the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office in Pacdal, Baguio City for safekeeping.The Baguio-Bontoc-Banaue Road, otherwise known as the Halsema Highway, is a major road network linking Baguio and the northern towns of Benguet, Mountain Province and Ifugao.The police did not say where the harvested wood came from or where it was going to be delivered.
