Sara wants probe on missing reports

REPORTS from Bantay Bukid volunteers don’t reach the intended city government offices.

Mayor Sara Duterte said she has mandated the concerned offices to look into the complaints of the Bantay Bukid volunteers.

In an interview Thursday, the mayor said she was able to hear the sentiments of volunteers.

“They told me that along the process of relaying reports (on) illegal logging and other violations, reports are lost and do not reach the intended offices,” Duterte said.

Duterte said she has already instructed the city administrator to sit down with the Public Safety and Security Center, and Department of Environment and Natural Resources because “they handle the volunteers.”

Environment protection is among the 10 priority agenda of her administration and over 200 members of the city’s Bantay Bukid recently renewed their oath to protect the environment from unscrupulous people.

City Environment and Natural Resources Officer (CENRO) Engineer Marivic Reyes recognized the deployment of the Bantay Bukid as “a big help to us since they will serve as our eyes on the ground.”

A press statement from City Information Office read: “as far as local activities like littering and small destruction of our environment, those will all be handled by CENRO, but if it will involve big things like illegal cutting, it will be referred to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR),” Reyes said.

“Our aim really is to preserve the environment and to ensure that it will be seen by the next generation. Everything that is covered under the jurisdiction of the city is our mandate,” she added.