:
In the City of Pagadian……)S.s.
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JOINT COUNTER AFFIDAVIT
7. The allegations contained in paragraphs 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of the joint
complaint affidavit are hereby denied for lack of knowledge sufficient to form belief
as to the falsity or truthfulness thereof; the respondents would like to invite the
attention of the honorable investigating prosecutor that private complainants illegally
engaged in the business of saw mill operation (Bansohan) located at Barangay
Limbayan, Pitogo, Zamboanga del Sur, way back in 2002 until this date; that said
barangay is just an adjacent to Barangay Baganian, Tabina, Zamboanga del Sur; in
fact, sometime in 2015, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
ordered the private complaints to close their saw mill operation, copy of the Closure
Order hereto attached and marked as Exhibit “B”;
8. The allegation that there were several cut trees contained in paragraph 15,
of the joint affidavit of complaint is hereby admitted but with qualification that it was
the private complainants who illegally cut the said trees; it is to be noted that
despite of the closure order issued by the DENR, private complainants clandestinely
continued their saw mill operation illegally;
10. Respondents are bona fide enlisted officer of the Citizen Armed Forces
Geographical Unit (CAFGU) and presently assigned at Baganain Detachment,
Barangay Bagadian. Tabina, Zamboanga del Sur; while respondents Sgt Reynaldo L.
Acal and Cpl Halber A. Atalad, are bona fide enlisted personal of the Armed Forces
of the Philippines, also presently assigned in the same detachment;
11. Aside from manning the said detachment and as part of their tour of duty,
respondents are also mandated to conduct actual area operation particularly the
following barangays of Limbayan, Banbanan, both of Pitogo, Barangay Tultulan, San
Francisco, Manicaan, Doña Josefina, Matin-ao, Kapisan, and New Oroqueta, all of
Tabina, Zamboanga del Sur;
13. When we arrived at the alleged place, we saw Rowel C. Obsiana, private
complainants son, who was still in the area and holding his hand gun; we then
surrounded the latter, he (Rowel) then put down his gun and surrendered; we then
brought him to the detachment and subsequently turned-over to the PNP of Tabina,
Zamboanga del Sur, copy of the Incident Report hereto attached and marked as
Exhibit “C”;
14. After the arrest and apprehension of private complainants son Rowel
Obsiana, we continued our official operation covering the barangays mentioned-
above; every time we conducted our operation, we regularly passed the saw mill
establishment of the private complainants because it was just a two hundred (200)
meters away from our detachment base camp; at first, we presumed that said
establishment was legitimate because they undertook their operation day and night;
in fact private complainant stocked finished timber products filed beside the saw
mill, as evidence by photocopies hereto attached and marked as Exhibits “D’, “E”,
“F”, “G” and “H”. respectively;
15. During also our regular operation, we saw several cut Gemelina trees in
Barangay Limbayan, Pitogo, Zamboanga del Sur; we presumed that it was private
complainants who caused the cutting of said trees because of their saw mill
operation;
16. Just recently, we received a Subpoena of the instant case; surprisingly then,
we were charged of cutting trees illegally and violation of Forestry Law; doubting
then of the legitimacy of the saw mill operation undertaken by the private
complainants, we then verified to the office of the Department Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR) to determine whether the said establishment operated
illegally;
17. It was only then we learned that sometime in 2015, that the DENR issued a
Closure Order (Exhibit “B”), ordering the private complainant to permanently close
their mill establishment. However, despite of the DENR Closure Order, private
complainant arrogantly defied the order of the DENR and continued their saw mill
operation to this date; to further confirm that they (private complainant) still
operating the saw mill, we asked someone (name withheld for security measure) to
buy some finished timber/lumber product from the said establishment; surprisingly,
our informant was able to buy some lumber products thereof as evidence by
Temporary Receipt dated April 4, 2018, copy hereto attached and marked as
Exhibit “I”;
18. From the foregoing special and/or affirmative defenses and antecedents, it
can readily infer and conclude that it was the private complainant who illegally cut
the alleged trees subject of the offense charge and who violated the Forestry Law;
this fact of illegal cutting of trees is evident when they continued operating the saw
mill establishment notwithstanding the closure order issued by the DENR;
19. We are executing this Joint Counter Affidavit to attest to the truth and
veracity of the foregoing statements and respectfully pray for the outright dismissal
of the instant case;
20. We are further executing this joint counter affidavit to reserve our right to file
appropriate criminal action against the private complainants for violation of Forest
Laws and other related environmental laws;