A LOST CAUSE — I, too, grieve for the massacre of trees along the Manila North Road (MNR) as one of those trees that were felled was a mango tree planted by my late father some 45 years ago or so ago in front of our house in Villasis. 

When it was cut last year, the first time around when the Department of Public Works and Highways brandished chainsaws, there was nothing we could possibly do. I doubt, too, if anyone could really do anything even if the provincial board acted though belatedly to save the other 600 or so remaining standing trees in that stretch.

The SP seemingly soft-pedaled months after it adopted a rather tough stance praying that there should be no more trees to be cut along the MNR

Thus, a no show by most of the provincial board members in their scheduled special session last December 2 , to my mind, finally sealed the fate of the remaining standing trees.

This to our mind possibly signaled a total surrender.

At a time when the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is now about to complete its work of cutting all the trees within the 20-meter road right-of- way, any legal maneuver by parties at this stage will already be deemed futile to say the least.

Even a petition before the court for the issuance of a temporary retraining order and writ of preliminary injunction as contemplated by the SP will be moot and academic since all the trees being sought to be protected would be gone by then.

We heard that DPWH was given up to Dec. 17 to complete the cutting as stipulated in the extended permit issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). And the former believes that the work would be over by the first week of  December. So what more trees can be saved?

At this point, the SP can still do the province a good turn by ensuring that all the timber will be made into school desks, chairs and tables of our public schools. – Leonardo Micua

 

LOUSY PRINTING, WHAT A WASTE!  Tarpaulins are all over again in Pangasinan.

 Faces of candidates in the guise of information dissemination greet people in conspicuous places. Most of those we see have the support of government funds for the printing of their tarpaulins being incumbent officials.

 That’s advertising at the people’s expense. It is a battle of design, ideas and concept.

The product that the advertisers are selling this time is not about goods or commodities but persons and, therefore, must be appealing to the public. The design on the tarp must catch people’s attention.

 But I am distracted by the quality of printing of some tarpaulins.

Nothing personal here but I wonder why the provincial government that spends huge sums of money on tarpaulins insist on having their materials printed by the same supplier despite obvious poor quality of the tarps.

 Look. The color on the faces of the father, the son and an ally’ are very dark brown, always and forever. Hindi naman ganun ang tunay na itsura nila.  Asireg- sireg kalopaan dad tarpaulin ya singa ra abambanoan. In fact, the ally is a mestizo in person. Definitely, all are better looking in person.

 Anong kasunduan kaya meron ba’t di na lang ipagawa sa ibang printer na ok ang trabaho? Ang daming sayang na pera.

But better still, baka pwedeng bawasan paggamit ng pondo ng bayan para sa mga tarpaulins at ibigay na lang bilang pantugon sa pangangailangan ng mga tunay na mahihirap? Propaganda versus tunay na programa para sa mga kababayan na kanilang mapapakinabangan!

 Just saying.–Tita Roces

(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)

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