DPWH still wants 543 remaining trees cut
MNR TREES CONTROVERSY
LINGAYEN– Despite vigorous objection from environmentalists, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) remains adamant in its plan to cut down the remaining 543 standing trees along the Manila North Road (MNR) because the trees continue to pose hazards to motorists daily.
“We are still pursuing the cutting of the remaining trees, DPWH Third Highway District Engineer Emmanuel Diaz said as he expressed hope that DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) will grant the permit to do so.
“We have already replaced all of these (the uncut and already cut trees),” Diaz told newsmen last week after attending the Question Hour of the SP on another issue.
Saying he already stated this intention before the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) when he appeared during its question hour on September 23 when asked by the body on what his agency will do to the remaining uncut trees along the MNR, he added that the cutting down of the remaining 543 standing trees will enable the DPWH to complete the widening of the MNR for it to accommodate the bigger volume of traffic passing through it daily.
He said his office already planted some 182,000 tree seedlings in several watershed areas in Pangasinan covering a total of 380 hectares of land, insinuating that these will replace all the trees that were cut down and yet to be felled.
The survival rate of these seedlings is based on a recent inspection conducted by DPWH and DENR personnel and the seedlings that died were immediately replaced to ensure that all the guaranteed 182,000 replacement tree seedlings will grow and mature.
There were some 900 trees that were already removed by the DPWH along the MNR to effect its widening into four lanes and DENR had asked the DPWH to replace the cut down trees at a ratio of one felled tree to 100 seedlings.
Environmentalists led by Franciscan priest Fr. Robert Reyes are waging relentless efforts to save the 543 remaining trees, whose trunks were already girdled by the contractor of the DPWH preparatory to their eventual cutting.
Reacting to charges by the environmentalist groups that the contractor of the DPWH, Pahati Construction did not do simple pruning of tree’s branches but actually stripped the trees of all branches in preparation for their removal, Diaz denied there was overkill in the conduct of the pruning.
Pictures of extremely damaged trees on account of pruning were posted on social media that went viral.
Reyes maintained that the contractor merely removed branches of trees that have already deteriorated and branches whose leaves were close to the high-tension wire of power utilities.
He admitted that they had permit to prune the branches of trees but in such a situation when the branches of these trees already deteriorated or are already touching high-tension wire, they can prune these trees without securing any permit from DENR to protect people, including motorists, from harm.
The environmentalist groups led by the Save the Trees Movement held a “Run For The Trees” event in Pozorrubio where runners also took the occasion to “adopt” their own trees.
Virginina Pasalo, director of the Women in Development Foundation, lamented the prevailing mood of resignation and despair among the residents to the inevitability of the killing of the trees that had kept them company for decades. (Leonardo Micua)
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