The incident happened on June 10 in Barangay Matahimik-Bucana, an outlying city village where they were investigating reports of mangrove encroachment.
Led by Alex Hermoso, the city anti-squatting program with the assistance of Matahimik-Bucana barangay officials, 3rd Marine Brigade, and the Anti-Crime Task Force (ACTF) demolished fences made of galvanized iron sheets, barbed wires, and cemented posts surrounding six hectares of mangrove land.
Oliveros said Balonglong is already expected to face charges before the National Bureau of Investigation and the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD).
Initial reports obtained by Palawan News indicate that the environmental officers that included Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (DENR-CENRO) forester Roldan Alvarez, members of the city government's anti-squatting unit, and local barangay officials were held at gunpoint, and arrested for questioning before they were released later the same day.
Provincial Ordinance 2210, approved in February, provides for the creation of a Palawan Council for Protected Areas Management (PCPAM) and placing under its umbrella all the established protected areas in the province, with the exception of the Underground River which is under the independent jurisdiction of Puerto Princesa City.
Rainier Manalo, program head of Crocodylus Porosus Philippines Incorporated (CPPI), on Thursday said that their research and conservation team found indisputable proof establishing Lanao del Sur as a habitat for the critically endangered Philippine freshwater crocodile.
The decision was made by both agencies following BuCor's demolition Sunday, October 13, of around 10 newly-built and abandoned houses in the Montible area.
