Pols should come clean

It’s not uncommon to hear candidates mouthing pro-environment rhetorics.

Do they mean what they say and do they understand what it takes to work for a sustainable environment when ours is already in dire straits.

The current crisis, like the effects of Climate Change, is the result of man’s abuse of nature. Yet advocates of a balanced environment are brushed off as “tree huggers”, a stereotype of hippie do-gooders who go around hugging trees in order to connect with nature.

Many politicians may think so but that shouldn’t be the case. There is science behind the prohibition against nailing campaign posters on living trees.

Like any other living organism, trees can be injured. Repeated injury can take its toll and eventually kill a tree – not necessarily a sudden death, but studies have indicated that injured trees have shorter lifespans.

“Nailing a poster on a tree will impair its vigor and structural integrity. This invites attack by harmful insects, fungi and disease,” said Dr. Isabelo R. Montejo, a forester who is regional executive director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – 7.

Laws prohibit the injuring of trees.

Republic Act 3571 was passed in 1963 and prohibits the cutting, destroying or injuring of planted or growing trees, flowering plants and shrubs or plants of scenic value along public roads, in plazas, parks, school premises or in any other public ground without proper government authority.

The coming May 13 election reminds us that this law is very much alive.

Implementing rules of the Fair Elections Act governing the coming May 13 elections specifies this 50-year-old in warning violators that they face criminal prosecution for posting illegal campaign material on trees, shrubs and living plants.

The same ban against injuring trees is reinforced in Presidential Decree 953 promulgated in 1976.

Even without laws, basic values of cleanliness and an abhorrence for littering are taught in kindergarten.

Iniatives of city officials of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu to tear down stray campaign posters on walls , posts and trees – even those of their own party — deserve commendations.

Their removal of illegal campaign materials did not distinguish if the litter had the guapo face of Mayor Jonas Cortes or the guapa face of Mayor Paz Radaza. All must go.

When will Cebu City candidates follow?

The Commission on Election (Comelec) sent warning notices to candidates giving them three days to take down their outsized or out of place banners.

With the political will displayed by Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes, we hope this much-abused practice of using campaign posters like wall paper in public places will be curbed at last.

For so long, candidates have made poster violations the norm. Inaction by authorities only deepened the sense of impunity.

Voters need to act as well.

It’s time to remind candidates who ignore rules and injure trees with their paraphernalia that they won’t get popular support.