DENR issues computerized forms for log transport

In an effort to stop the illegal transport of logs, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has begun issuing computerized forms for the delivery of timber and lumber to get rid of fraud and corruption in the transport of forest products.

The Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) started issuing computerized certificates of timber origin (CTOs) and certificates of lumber origin (CLOs) last month, after the system was fully set up in all of DENR regional offices nationwide.

The CTO and CLO are issued for every transport of wood products, and are seen to result in more efficient monitoring of the transport of timber and lumber products from the source to business establishments that own them. 

“We hope that this computerized generation of the CTO and CLO would prevent the illegal transport of timber and logs, and help us easily trace accountabilities in the disposition of forest products,” DENR Secretary Lito Atienza said. 

According to the DENR’s Public Affairs Office, the CTO is the form required to accompany forest products still in their raw form, while the CLO is necessary if the products have already been processed.  

The CTO will show the number of logs, timber or flitches being shipped as well as the wood species, volume in cubic meters, source and the destination and/or consignee.

On the other hand, the CLO will show the number of pieces of lumber being transported as well as the wood species, volume, and place of loading, conveyance and date of transport, source and consignee. 

Luis Gonzaga, a senior forest management specialist of the DENR’s Forest Management Bureau, said the computer-generated CTO and CLO use two-bar code numbers that are randomly generated and that computer-based serial numbers are assigned to each document.

The computer-generated CTO and CLO forms have expiry dates or a specific validity period of 15 days unlike the old CTO and CLO forms that were extendible, Gonzaga said.

However, Gonzaga admitted that DENR regional offices still do not have bar code readers, which are needed to fully implement the program.

He also admitted that the new scheme is still encountering a few glitches in some regional offices, which are having problems with their computers. 

Information technology experts of the DENR and the FMB jointly developed the CTO and CLO generation, tracking and database system.  – Katherine Adraneda