Lawyer asks court to stop tree cutting in Pangasinan

THE STUMP of a freshly cut tree along the Binalonan town section of the Manila North Road in Pangasinan province. WILLIE LOMIBAO/CONTRIBUTOR

URDANETA CITY–The lawyer of an environmental group has urged a court here to issue a temporary environmental protection order (Tepo) against any further cutting of remaining trees along the Manila North Road (MNR) in Pangasinan province.

James Imbong, counsel of National Coalition to Save the Trees, made the appeal on Aug. 12 at the pretrial conference for the petition for injunction and environmental protection order that Save the Trees Coalition in Pangasinan (STCP) had filed in the Regional Trial Court Branch 47 here.

Imbong reminded the court about the urgency of the case, citing an Inquirer report that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) had felled two trees in the area despite the expiration of its tree-cutting permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

“In view of this hostile action, we asked the court to consider the immediate issuance of a Tepo against any further cutting as well as for the protection and rehabilitation of the remaining girdled trees,” Imbong said in a statement e-mailed to the Inquirer.

The pretrial conference took place nine weeks after STCP leaders Virginia Pasalo and Julia Senga filed the petition. During the hearing, DENR and DPWH lawyers asked the court to reset the pretrial conference to Sept. 16.

On Aug. 11, the DPWH confirmed that it had felled two mahogany trees along the MNR in Binalonan town despite the absence of a tree-cutting permit.

The trees were supposed to be among the 21 trees that the DENR had certified as dead or dying along the MNR.

On June 5, during the World Environment Day celebration, Imbong represented Pasalo and Senga in seeking a Tepo to save some 770 trees from being cut by the DPWH.

The trees are found along the MNR passing through Binalonan, Pozorrubio, Sison, Villasis and Rosales towns, and Urdaneta City.

These are the only trees left standing after the DPWH felled some 1,059 trees between November 2013 and February this year to give way to a road-widening project.

Pasalo and Senga, in their petition, said no proper public consultations were held before the tree-cutting permit was issued.

The defendants are Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, DENR Ilocos regional director Samuel Peñafiel, DPWH district engineer Emmanuel Diaz and Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon