DONDON Dimpas, a mountaineer based in Cebu City, ties himself to an acacia tree that workers of the Department of Public Works and Highways were preparing to cut down for a P1.2-billion road project funded by pork barrel. CARMEL LOUIS MATUS/INQUIRER VISAYAS
NAGA CITY, Cebu—Two environmentalists decided to take matters into their own hands in order to save the three remaining century-old acacia trees here that had been given the death sentence by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Dondon Dimpas and Lito Labore, members of Cebu Mountaineering Society (CMS), climbed on separate trees in Barangay Inoburan here and tied themselves to the trunks while personnel from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Central Visayas were preparing to cut down the trees around 9 p.m. on Thursday.
Both ignored the plea of DPWH personnel to come down. After more than an hour, DPWH personnel decided to abort the operation at 10:14 p.m.
It took another hour for the two to climb down after they were convinced that the cutting had been called off.
Naga City Councilor Carmelino Cruz Jr. met with officials of the DPWH, the DENR and the Philippine National Police to ask them not to push through with the cutting of the trees to ensure the safety of Dimpas and Labore.
Cruz admitted that the move of Dimpas and Labore took them by surprise.
In a phone interview with the Inquirer, Dimpas said he had been climbing mountains and trees since 1996 but this was the first time that he climbed a tree as a form of protest.
He said they decided to take action to “show my concern for the trees as a Cebuano.”
On his Facebook account, he even posted the hashtag #occupyacacia. He also changed his profile and cover photos, which now show a lighted candle with a black background and the printed words: “I mourn for the loss of our children for they will never see the beauty of those century old acacia trees.”
Dimpas and Libore were with four other members of CMS, two Greenpeace members and two Movement for Liveable Cebu (MLC) members who arrived in Barangay Inoburan, Naga, about 22 kilometers south of here.
Greenpeace members wanted to document the cutting of the century-old trees, which had been tagged rotting and dying by DENR foresters.
Rudy Alix and his wife, Louella, both MLC members, were here to show their opposition to the plan to cut down the trees and make an appeal to have the trees checked by a third party.
“Bring in a third party to determine if [the trees are] really diseased or not. Find out what made them diseased. Is it because of what’s happening there? Roots were chopped. They leaned [toward] the road. So as always, any tree would fall toward its weakest base,” he said.
The DPWH had already cut down four century-old trees in Barangay Tinaan in Naga because these were reportedly rotting.
But the mountaineers had other plans.
Before DPWH personnel could start chopping down the trees at 9 p.m., the two climbed on separate trees and tied themselves around the trunks.
Labore held a photocopy of a marginal note by Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson that was written on a photocopy of a photo showing a canopy of trees along the national highway in Carcar City, which came out in the Across the Nation section of the Inquirer on Aug. 6.
The marginal note, which was handwritten, was addressed to Ador Canlas, DPWH director for Central Visayas. It read: “Let’s not widen this road in Carcar even if we get LGU (local government unit) [or] DENR clearance. Let’s not cut trees anymore for widening. Let’s just improve shoulder and put loading bays and flaring of intersections.”
Supt. Brindo Nacario, Naga City police chief, said they decided to exercise maximum tolerance and waited for the two men to come down from the acacia trees. But they didn’t.
After more than an hour, the DPWH pulled out their payloaders, trucks and spotlight from the area in Barangay Inoburan at 10:14 p.m. after a decision was reached to call off the operation.
Dimpas and Labore climbed down at 11:20 p.m. after Louella Alix forwarded a text message from Canlas that the cutting had been called off.
Police had planned to invite the two for questioning but decided against it after Dimpas and Labore were whisked off by their companions and sent home to Cebu City.