Residents of Isabela province are expected to join hands on Saturday for an environmental protection campaign in San Mariano town following a call for support by the Diocese of Ilagan.

In his letter read over the Sunday masses, Bishop Joseph Nacua asked Isabela residents “to show our concern most especially in Isabela regarding the issue of illegal logging that has contributed to the decimation of our forests resources.”

Nacua issued the letter In relation to a letter issued by the bishops November 5 last year
where they affirmed that “our country is in peril. All the living systems on land and in the seas are being exploited. The damage is extensive and, sad to say, irreversible.”

“The bishop’s letter invites everyone to show their concern for forest protection,” said Fr. Toni Ancheta of the Social Action Center of the Diocese of Ilagan.

Nacua and several priests in the towns of Jones, San Agustin, San Guillermo, San Mariano, Cauayan City, Benito Soliven, Ilagan and Palanan Have been deputized by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as Environment and Natural Resources Officers.

“So if there is illegally-cut wood that would com out, you can implement an arrest against the lw violators with the help of other agencies,” added Ancheta.

Last year, Fr. John Couvreur, a known advocate of anti-illegal logging, led a hunger strike in San Mariano town to protest the illegal logging in the mountains of Sierra Madre.

He admitted however that this is not enough and there is a need for a continuous movement against illegal logging.