‘Trim them, you kill them,’ tree savers tell officials

BACOLOR, Pampanga, Philippines — The Save the Trees Coalition has asked local officials to suspend the trimming of trees in a village here otherwise the trees would die and serve the purpose of a planned road-widening project.

“The trimmed trees have been reduced to nothing but their trunks, which will take a longer time to grow back,’’ Dina Zulueta, a member of the coalition, said on Thursday’s dialogue with local officials.

The special permit to trim or prune 25 trees was issued to Barangay Calibutbut chair Anna Marie Labung by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Pampanga in January.

Zulueta is the plaintiff in the complaint that obtained a temporary environmental protection order (Tepo) that saved 259 trees along the Friendship Circumferential Road from Barangay Calibutbut in Bacolor town to three villages in Angeles City.

The Tepo, issued by the Angeles City Regional Trial Court Branch 59 on Feb. 7, prohibits the “cutting, harming, injuring, earth-balling, transferring and/or any other action that will result [in] the damage of the subject trees.”

Prior to the issuance of the Tepo, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) stopped the cutting at the request of Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr.

Shade

The coalition argued company employees at the Angeles Industrial Park benefit from these trees.

“The trees along these roads serve as an important shade to protect [workers] from heatstroke and other heat-related ailments that may plague them, particularly in the summer months. And since the area is often subject to dust and smoke, these trees also serve as an important filter that protects these workers’ lungs,” Zulueta said.

The village council said it would issue a certificate of no objection to the road-widening project.

A check by the Inquirer showed that the Tepo covered the Calibutbut trees since these were mentioned in the Nov. 18, 2013, environmental compliance certificate issued by the Environmental Management Bureau to the DPWH and submitted to the court as evidence.

—Tonette Orejas