‘Cut down trees,’ city folk demand
After an acacia tree fell on a jeep in Sikatuna Street and killed the driver, alarmed residents have been calling the Cebu City Risk Reduction Management Council (CCRRMC) office to request that old trees in their neighborhood be cut.
Gale Yncierto, CCRMC phone operator, said the callers want the trees cut down as soon as possible.
“Others got angry and demanded that the trees near them be cut down immediately,” she told Cebu Daily News.
Yncierto said as of 2 p.m. yesterday they received seven requests to cut down eight trees in different barangays.
Requests to cut down mango, buri, acacia and sampalok trees came from residents of barangays Talamban, Lorega, Tisa, Pardo, Lahug and Parian among others.
However, cutting down trees is costly and cannot be done overnight, said Alvin Santillana, disaster office director.
He said his office has yet to act on requests to cut down 53 buri trees.
Santillana said the city government has only one expert tree cutter who is assigned with the Parks and Playgrounds Commission.
If the city government hires a private contractor, it would cost between P25,000 to P50,000 to cut down one tree.
The job requires six persons and would last for at least a week.
An old acacia tree fell on a passenegr jeepney on Wednesday afternoon killing its driver.
Santillana said it took almost five hours to cut the tree into pieces and transport to a City Hall dump truck for storage in a portion of the South Road Properties (SRP).
He said they used two trucks and a crane.
About 100 personnel including police, traffic enforcers, barangay Zapatera tanods and personnel from the Parks and Playgrounds Commission and the Department of Public Services helped cut the fallen tree.
Mayor Michael Rama ordered an inventory of centuries-old trees and those that pose danger to residents.
Santillana said personnel from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will visit City Hall today to discuss old trees with the mayor.
The mayor said he wanted to reactivate a task force for tree trimming created in 2009 to prune trees that cover lamplights and dim city streets.
The task force would be assigned to examine trees that pose risks to residents.
“Dying trees are dangerous because their roots are weak. They have to be cut down,” he said.
Santillana said the DENR could be made part of the task force to guide them which trees to cut.
DENR permits are needed to cut down younger trees that may also pose risks to residents.
“We will make the recommendations and the DENR will approve the application to cut down trees,” he said.
However, Santillana said the city did not ask for a DENR permit when they cut down a kolo tree that stood near the fallen acacia tree.
Santillana said the tree was even bigger than the acacia tree and already had a weak base.
“After the acacia tree fell, there’s no tree for the kolo to lean on if it falls, so we just cut it down,” he said.
Santillana said it took them five hours to cut down the kolo. They stored the timber at the SRP.
Hazardous trees are not properly monitored in Cebu, a forester said.
Chief Forester Leo Terimitar of the Forest Protection and Law Enforcement under the DENR in Central Visayas said the acacia tree may have had an infection, a portion of its roots burned and a portion of the land area was dug causing it to topple.
“The tree needs to maintain its balance to stand,” Terimitar told Cebu Daily News.
Incessant rains may have raised the weight of leaves and the branches and the tree buckled.
The DENR inspected the tree yesterday afternoon to determine the reason it toppled on the busy street near Zapatera Elementary School.
He said a report of their inspection would be used as basis for assessing other trees in Cebu City.
Terimitar said it is the responsibility of the local government to monitor the trees in their area. The DENR would only provide the technical support.
He said the local government should coordinate with the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, electric companies and the Department of Public Works and Highways as stipulated in memorandum circular 2011-01 of the DENR.
In Mandaue City, barangay leaders are closely monitoring huge buri and other trees, said Ernie Manatad Association of Barangay Councils president.
He said they want to avoid a repeat of last Wednesday’s incident in Cebu City and last June in barangay Labogon that killed three persons.
Manatad said they now have chainsaws for cutting trees that were distributed to the city’s five clustered barangays.
