Hardwood trunks from road clearing left rotting

NARRA, mahogany and acacia trunks left after the MacArthur Highway was widened in eastern Pangasinan province in 2011 and 2012 are decaying at the Department of Education’s division office yard in Binalonan town. EV ESPIRITU/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

DAGUPAN CITY—Most of the trunks of narra, mahogany and acacia trees that were cut to widen the MacArthur Highway in eastern Pangasinan in 2011 and 2012 are piled up at the Department of Education’s (DepEd) division office yard in Binalonan town, rotting and waiting to be put to good use.

Viraluz Raguindin, superintendent of the Pangasinan schools division 2, said the processing of documents of donation covering the trunks by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) had been delayed.

The trunks were to be turned into desks, office tables and chairs for schools that requested them, she said.

“The memorandum of agreement (MOA) donating the tree trunks to the DepEd was approved by DENR Ilocos regional director Samuel Peñafiel, but by the time the deal was accomplished, it was already the rainy season,” Raguindin said.

She said the erratic weather last year hampered the work schedule so the concerned schools could not retrieve the trunks immediately.

The agreement involves 300 to 350 trees that used to line the MacArthur Highway in Urdaneta City and the towns of Villasis, Binalonan, Pozorrubio and Sison. The trees were cut in the last quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012 by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

But left unattended for more than a year, Raguindin said many trunks had since decayed due to exposure to heat and rain and might no longer be useful. Other trunks would not also be useful as furniture materials because of the way these were cut.

Fernando Estrada, Urdaneta community environment and natural resources officer, said the trees could have been infested.

“We have advised the DepEd to have the trunks cut into flitches so they can be stocked properly and prevent further deterioration. We had actually planned to [reclaim] the tree trunks if they won’t still be used [as prescribed by the MOA],” he said.

Raguindin said some of the tree trunks had been turned over to Laoac National High School in Laoac town, Juan Macaraeg National High School in Binalonan town, and Pozorrubio Central School in Pozorrubio town.

“Actually, there is not enough wood to cover all the requests [made by school officials in Pangasinan],” Raguindin said.

The situation, she said, worsened because the stock available had deteriorated. Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon