Mayor tagged as illegal logger demands apology from accusers

By JOHN BELLO
TODAY Correspondent


LUCENA CITY—Gen. Nakar Mayor Hernando Avellaneda Sr. demanded a public apology from Environment Secretary Michael Defensor, reforestation czar Victor Corpuz and anti-illegal logging task force chief Alfonso Dagudag who accused him of being a big-time illegal logger along with his two brothers.


In a letter sent on Tuesday to Quezon Vice Gov. David Suarez and members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, Avellaneda branded as false allegations that he is a financier or operator of illegal logging in his town.


Rampant illegal logging has been blamed in the recent calamity that battered the towns of Real, Infanta and Gen. Nakar (Reina) in the northern part of Quezon province.


Defensor claimed that P10 million worth of logs seized in Mauban town were from Avellaneda’s illegal logging operations in Gen. Nakar.


Dagudag, a retired military general and former Southern Luzon Command chief based at Camp Guillermo Nakar here, has filed the case at the Ombudsman against Avellaneda, his two brothers, Ricardo and Ronnie and barangay chairman David Prudente of Magsaysay, also in Gen. Nakar.


“I expect from my accusers no less than a public apology and that my name and of my brothers be cleared and vindicated soonest,” said a portion of the four-page letter which included a chronology of the mayor’s communication with the DENR regarding the rampant illegal logging activities in Reina areas.


Avellaneda dared his accusers to “bring the issue to the Senate Blue-Ribbon Committee and other proper forums rather than to the media “where we are tried and condemned before we are given the chance and opportunity to disprove your accusations.”


The mayor who has earned the monicker “Gapos” because of his alleged penchant for tying petty criminals to a tree, disclosed in a cell-phone interview with TODAY that Defensor, Corpuz and Dagudag during their visit in his town have forced barangay captains Ariel Saynez of Canaway and Roberto Ritual of Banglos, both of Nakar, to sign affidavit and transcripts apparently linking the mayor to the rampant illegal logging operations.