Hinoba-an Mayor Ernesto Estrao is offering a P10,000 reward for anybody who can track down the illegal loggers responsible for two century-old lauan trees being cut down at Sitio Wilderness in the municipality’s Barangay Damutan earlier this week.

After personnel from the Hinoba-an municipal police and the Negros Occidental Provincial Legal Office earlier raided the illegal logging site, which is part of a 50-hectare property once owned by the now-defunct Insular Lumber Company (ILCO), the suspects fled the scene upon spotting the operatives.

Estrao said the municipal government has already deployed 30 Bantay Lasang members, however, they are required to coordinate with the police and Task Force Ilahas, a group tasked with enforcing environmental policies, as the suspects may be armed.

The mayor noted, ILCO deliberately left the area untouched in order for it to serve has a wildlife habitat.

According to Atty. Jose Ma. Valencia, the provincial legal officer, security will be intensified by providing a monthly allowance between P3,000 to P4,000 to local residents who volunteer to preserve the last remaining virgin forest in Negros./DGB, WDJ