MANILA, Philippines—An environmentalist group Sunday condemned the “gruesome slaughter” of age-old trees in a plaza fronting the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila, a week before the celebration of Creation Month which starts Monday.

Ecowaste Coalition said 29 healthy narra, mahogany, mango, neem, fire and Indian trees in Plaza Roma were cut down last Monday in violation of the cutting and balling permit issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

“We mourn the gruesome slaughter of the Plaza Roma trees, a dastardly act ironically committed barely a week before Christian churches mark ‘Creation Month’ to celebrate the gifts of nature and our connectivity with Mother Earth,” said the group’s president, Manny Calonzo.

He pointed out that narra, the national tree, is not only famous for its ecological and ornamental benefits, but also for its healing properties.

The DENR issued a permit to the Intramuros Administration on Aug. 5 to make way for the latter’s plan to re-landscape Plaza Roma.

Citing possible violations of Presidential Decree 953, the department has asked IA administrator Maria Ana Harper to explain why charges should not be filed against her for breaking the law.

Calonzo claimed that several provisions of the law, issued in 1976 by President Ferdinand Marcos, were violated, starting with IA’s failure to inform the DENR when the trees would be cut down.

He added that the agency also failed to post at the barangay (village) hall the permit issued by the DENR and to ball the trees for planting elsewhere.

PD 953 penalizes any person who cuts, destroys, damages or injures naturally growing or planted trees, including flowering and ornamental shrubs and plants of “scenic, aesthetic and ecological values.”