Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu ordered the donation of assorted pieces of hardwood to the 22 crewmen of F/V GEM VER for the repair of their fishing boats damaged in the collision incident in Recto Bank in the West Philippine Sea on June 9.

In his directive to Department of Environment and Natural Resources MIMAROPA (Region 4B) Regional Executive Director (RED) Henry Adornado, Cimatu instructed the donation of 379 pieces or 3,084 board feet of confiscated lumber to the fishermen involved in the incident. Felix Dela Torre and Junel Insigne received the lumber on behalf of the affected fishermen. The men are all residents of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.

DENR Region 4B, through its regular forest patrol and monitoring, has collected confiscated lumber that may be used for construction purposes.

“We are glad that we are able to make use of confiscated forest products to help our fellowmen,” said RED Adornado. “Nature indeed has its way of helping people start anew,” he added.

The donation of confiscated lumber to the F/V GEM VER crewmen was facilitated by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office in Occidental Mindoro and the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office in San Jose. ###