THE DAYS are numbered for these trees in Naga City, Cebu province, as government workers prepare to enforce an order to cut down old trees that are considered road hazards. TONEE DESPOJO/CEBU DAILY NEWS
CEBU CITY — The canopy of trees that made a portion of the national highway in a city in Cebu province famous among motorists will be a thing of the past, as government workers are set to cut down several trees that have been tagged sick or old.
Up to 43 trees that environment officials have determined to be old and likely to fall are to be cut by workers of the public works department.
Some of these are acacia that line the national highway traversing the towns of San Fernando and Naga and the city of Carcar.
Eddie Llamedo, regional information officer of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), said 32 acacia in San Fernando, seven in Naga and two in Carcar would have to be cut down because they pose a hazard to motorists. Also, they could fall anytime because they are already old, he added.
At least two gmelina trees in Carcar would suffer the same fate, said Llamedo.
The cutting would start on Aug. 5 in Naga, where seven trees would be cut. The DENR central office had given a permit for the cutting.
Llamedo said it would take at least two days for six workers to cut one tree because the trees are massive.
Fr. Robert Reyes, head of Coalition to Save the Trees, visited Barangay Tinaan in Naga City on Wednesday and tied white ribbons around the seven century-old acacia that would be cut on Monday.
Reyes said the white ribbons were reminders of the need to save the trees. “It is a living thing,” Reyes said in a phone interview.
He said cutting any tree was justified only if experts certify that the tree is no longer healthy and is rotting.
“If that is a person [who] is ill, are we going to say just kill the sick? We heal. We don’t kill,” he added.
The DENR examined trees on the highway in southern Cebu after three trees fell this year in San Fernando, Naga and Carcar.
Llamedo said the provincial government would provide 900 seedlings to be planted in the areas and replace those that would be cut.
The seedlings, however, would not be planted on the roadside following a directive by Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson prohibiting the planting of trees, shrubs and plants on areas that are rights of way on national highways.
The 900 seedlings, said Llamedo, would be planted in timberlands in Naga, San Fernando and Carcar.