PENARANDA, Nueva Ecija – Five people, including two students, ended up in jail for allegedly transporting 362 sacks or P126,700 worth of undocumented charcoal along a municipal road in Poblacion here at about 2:50 a.m. Wednesday.
Major Roderick Corpuz, town police chief, said operatives were conducting mobile patrolling when they chanced upon a wing-van type forward truck (AWA 6851) with five people on board.
The suspects were identified as Crispin Pajarillaga, 32, truck driver of Barangay Sampaguita; Sherwin Samson, 36, co-driver, of Barangay Pias; Darwin Bacani, 27, of Barangay Concepcion; and the two male students who reportedly worked as helpers, all from the adjacent town of Gen. Tinio.
Police said the owner of the charcoal, identified as Mark Joseph Abes, was not around during the incident.
“While traversing on the said road (the truck) was flagged down and upon inspection found out that it was loaded with three hundred sixty two (362pcs) sacks of charcoal without proper pertinent documents,” Corpuz said in his report to Nueva Ecija police director Col. Richard Caballero.
Charges of violation of Presidential Decree 705 or Forest Protection Law were filed against the suspects before the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in Cabanatuan City.
