There is not enough evidence to say that a person illegally exploited the forest.

With the information and documents obtained by reporters and the confirmation of the authorities, there is not enough basis to say that Mr. Mac Trung Tinh illegally exploited the protective forest.

Reporters of Hai Phong Newspaper, Radio and Television worked with Mr. Mac Trung Tinh

Actual exploitation

Hai Phong Newspaper, Radio and Television received a complaint from Mr. D. (in the complaint, Mr. D. stated that he lives in Bo Doc village, Le Dai Hanh ward, Hai Phong city) reporting that Mr. Mac Trung Tinh - a person in the same village, had signs of illegally exploiting the protective forest.

In the petition, Mr. D. wrote: Mr. Mac Trung Tinh was assigned to manage and take care of about 9 hectares of protective forest in Bo Doc village. This forest area "is being illegally cut down and exploited".

"The subjects and the homeowner used motor vehicles, machinery, equipment such as cars, excavators, cranes, chainsaws and a large number of people," the petition said.

Immediately after receiving the feedback, on September 12, the reporter contacted Mr. D. to discuss in detail. Mr. D. said that he works as a forest planter and caretaker, with his main job being weeding, planting, and caring for forest trees.

Around September 7-8, Mr. D. directly discovered that the forest trees were being cut down. “Mr. Tinh’s family was assigned to manage and take care of about 9 hectares of protective forest, of which 3 hectares were transferred to the military for management, the remaining 6 hectares were managed by his family. In addition, Mr. Tinh’s family was assigned about 2 hectares of production forest, but this production forest was exploited 2 years ago. The forest currently being exploited is 100% definitely protective forest,” said Mr. D.

Location of the forest area exploited by Mr. Mac Trung Tinh.

According to Mr. D., Mr. Tinh sold 6 hectares of protected forest that he was assigned to manage and care for to some people for illegal exploitation. Mr. D. also provided some images and clips recording the scene of exploitation and tree cutting.

To avoid affecting the petitioner, we asked this person to guide us directly into the forest, which is said to be the protected forest that Mr. Tinh illegally cut down and exploited.

On the afternoon of September 12, we went to the exact location that Mr. D. reported.

A group of reporters from Hai Phong Newspaper, Radio and Television went to inspect the actual situation and check the coordinates with the officers of the Forest Management Board and Nam Chi Linh Forest Management Station for the forest area exploited by Mr. Mac Trung Tinh.

After arriving at the location as instructed by Mr. D., the reporter called him to confirm the image once again. Mr. D. confirmed that the reporter had arrived at the right location. Before our eyes, a part of the forest at the foot of the hill had indeed been cut down.

Production forests

To know what type of forest this area belongs to, the reporter contacted the People's Committee of Le Dai Hanh Ward, the Forest Management Board and the Forest Protection Department of Region 4 (Hai Phong Forest Protection Department).

Mr. Ngo Quang Truong, Deputy Director of the Forest Management Board, said that the unit had received information related to the suspicion that Mr. Mac Trung Tinh's family had illegally cut down protective forests. "We confirm that the forest area that Mr. Mac Trung Tinh is exploiting is entirely production forest. There has been no exploitation or cutting down of protective forests," Mr. Truong said.

To clarify, Mr. Truong provided the reporter with a set of documents including the application with a commitment on the request to exploit production forest of Mr. Mac Trung Tinh; the working minutes on the request to exploit production forest between the Head of Nam Chi Linh Forest Management Station (the unit in charge of Mr. Tinh's family forest), local officials and Mr. Mac Trung Tinh; the plan to exploit production forest of Nam Chi Linh Forest Management Station; Decision No. 36/QD-BQLR dated July 30, 2025 of the Forest Management Board on exploiting production forest.

Part of the production forest exploitation plan established by Nam Chi Linh Forest Management Station on July 29, 2025, clearly states the coordinates of the forest area that Mr. Tinh is allowed to exploit.

Accordingly, Mr. Mac Trung Tinh was assigned to the production forest at lot 12a+21, section 5, sub-area 21, Bo Doc area, Le Dai Hanh ward, with an area of ​​1.93 hectares for exploitation. The northern and western boundaries border the forest land contracted by another family, the eastern and southern boundaries border the land managed by the ward People's Committee. Decision 36 also clearly states the coordinates VN 2000, projection zone 6, to determine the location of the production forest area that Mr. Tinh's household is allowed to exploit.

To have a visual confirmation, we, along with Mr. Ngo Quang Truong and some officers of Nam Chi Linh Forest Management Station, went to the exact forest location that Mr. D. (the petitioner) reported. Here, Mr. Truong reaffirmed once again: “The forest area that Mr. Tinh exploited is a production forest, not a protection forest. The exploitation is completely in accordance with the law.”

Previously, on September 11, 2025, the Forest Protection Department of Region 4 made a record of the inspection of the current status after exploitation of the production forest. The record was made between the forest rangers, officers of the Nam Chi Linh Forest Management Station, cadastral officers of Le Dai Hanh ward and Mr. Mac Trung Tinh.

Map of the location of the production forest area that Mr. Mac Trung Tinh is allowed to exploit.

The minutes clearly stated that the inspection coordinates matched the coordinates attached to Decision 36, and were the same as the actual forest location. The minutes clearly stated that “the contracting household exploited the assigned area, did not encroach, and did not exploit trees in the neighboring forest area. There was no dispute over the forest tree assets of the neighboring contracting household.”

We met directly with Mr. Mac Trung Tinh, who provided us with a production forest planting contract signed in 2008 with the Hai Duong Provincial Forest Management Board at that time. In which, the production forest planting area map coincided with the coordinate map of the Forest Management Board.

In addition to the images and clips that Mr. D. provided on September 12, a few days later he provided some more images, including a diagram of the protective forest land that Mr. Tinh was assigned to.

The map of the protected forest land that Mr. D. (the petitioner) provided, but this location (in red) does not match the forest area that Mr. Tinh exploited.

However, after verifying the facts and basing on relevant documents, the reporter found that the protective forest area that Mr. Tinh contracted (as provided by Mr. D.) did not match the forest area that Mr. Tinh exploited. On September 16, 2025, when the reporter and the working group of the Forest Management Board inspected the actual area, the protective forest area contracted to Mr. Tinh at the top of the hill was not encroached.

With the information and documents obtained by reporters and the confirmation of the authorities, there is not enough basis to believe that Mr. Mac Trung Tinh illegally exploited the protective forest as reported by Mr. D.

HA KIEN - THE ANH

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/khong-du-can-cu-cho-rang-mot-nguoi-dan-khai-thac-trai-phep-rung-522091.html