MANILA, Philippines – Church officials Wednesday expressed shock over the felling of 29 trees in a park fronting the Manila Cathedral even as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said it would file charges against the head of the Intramuros Administration, Anna Maria Harper, for ordering the tree-cutting.

“That was really embarrassing,” Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales said in an interview with reporters after the First Wednesday Mass at the Manila Cathedral.

“They should have been a little more cautious. Whatever their plan is, there must be a replacement of trees,” Rosales added.

Msgr. Nestor Cerbo, rector of the Manila Cathedral, said he had talked with Intramuros administrators on relaunching the area as a tourist destination.

One of the projects discussed, he said, was the improvement of Plaza Roma, the park in front of the church.

“I suggested that the trees in front of the cathedral be transferred so its facade would be seen better by the people. But I did not say that the trees should be cut,” Cerbo explained.

“There was even a plan to plant additional trees,” he said, recalling that the IA even asked the cardinal to donate a fire tree. “I was shocked when I found out that the trees were cut.”

Meanwhile, the DENR said it would press charges against Harper despite her having apologized over the incident.

“The DENR being the principal agency responsible for the protection of our trees and the rest of the environment, we are duty-bound to file charges against violators of the law no matter who they are,” Cora Davis, DENR executive director in Metro Manila, said in a statement Wednesday.

The DENR has taken Harper to task for felling 29 trees instead of only 27, which was stated in the IA’s application for a tree-cutting permit.

Davis said that of the 27 trees, 17 were to be cut down while the remaining 10 were to be balled and replanted.

Harper Wednesday apologized anew for the tree-cutting but stressed the order did not come from her.

“We owe the Filipino people, who own Intramuros, a deep apology, which we do extend most sincerely for this unfortunate incident,” she said in a statement.

“I, as head of [IA] did not authorize the cutting or damaging of the trees in question,” she said, adding that the order was given without her knowledge by an IA official whom she did not identify.

At the same time, Harper blamed the project contractor who she said went “over and above the plan.”

She added that the IA plans to plant over 200 flame trees in Intramuros this month “for the enjoyment of the Filipino people.”