BONTOC, Mt. Province - The Regional Trial Court (RTC) here has sentenced a woman to suffer imprisonment for 12 years and one day to 20 years for illegal possession and transportation of forest products.

RTC Branch 35 Presiding Judge Joseph Patnaan found the accused, Emitina Bautista, of Santiago City, Isabela guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violating Section 77 of Presidential Degree (PD) 705 or the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines.

PD 705 prohibits and penalizes individuals who cut, gather, and or transport timber or other forest products without the necessary permit or license issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Records of the case show that on October 31, 2005, personnel of the Mt. Province Provincial Police Office and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), upon instruction of their respective heads, proceeded to the Bureau of Equipments, Mountain Province Engineering District compound of the Department of Public Works and Highways and there found an truck undergoing repair loaded with narra lumber, semi finished door, window frames, moldings, and assorted wood tiles of different sizes.

The truck, pplate TMT 724 was being attended to by accused Bautista, her driver Salvador Santiago Jr. and Rogelio Bayaua Jr., both of Santiago City, Isabela, the supposed escort and reportedly a forest ranger at the Community Environment and Natural Resources in San Isidro, Isabela.

DENR inventory and computation of the truckload forest products was valued at P99,612.00.

Based on the documents presented, the court established that accused Bautista is the owner of the Elf truck and its cargo. The court also found that the possession and transportation of the forest lumbers were not covered by proper and the required documents.

While Bautista presented documents to support her ownership and the shipment and denying the charges of illegal possession and transportation of forest products, the Courts found out that these documents were incomplete, uncertified, and illegible copies.

One glaring discrepancy as established by the inventory conducted by the DENR personnel was that the actual cargo did not tally with what was reflected in the Certificate of Shipment.

The court also found another circumstancial evidence where Bautista had no proper documentation. Based on the shipping documents, the vehicle and its cargo were supposed to travel from Isabela to Baliuag, Bulacan but found its way to Bontoc, Mt. Province which the court said a very highly unlikely place to pass through considering that it would be a long and circuitous route passing through about five provinces.

With the above findings, the court said “under the present state of the evidence, the prosecution has proven the guilt of the accused of the offense charged to a moral certainty.” The court also ruled that in addition to imprisonment, the Elf truck and the forest products were ordered confiscated in favor of the government.

The case against co-accused Salvador Santiago Jr. and Rogelio Bayaua Jr. who had not been arrested and are still at large, had been ordered archived. *(JDP/ABD-PIA CAR,Mt. Province)