3 century-old trees saved

A CENTURY-OLD tree in Naga City, Cebu has just been saved from cutting. CONTRIBUTED BY ERNESTO MILITANTE

CEBU CITY—The three remaining century-old trees in Naga City, Cebu have just been saved from the death sentence.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR-7) has accepted the recommendation of a tree pathologist that there is no need to cut down the trees.

Instead, Dr. Ernesto Militante recommended that the trees only needed pruning when he conducted an assessment.

Isabelo Montejo, DENR-7 regional director of DENR, said they agreed with Militante’s recommendation that corrective pruning should be done on these trees.

He said pruning would not be limited to Naga but to the 81 other trees in San Fernando town and Carcar City.

Militante presented the result of his assessment on Friday before officials of the Movement for Livable Cebu (MLC), Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC), Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office and DENR-7.

He said that while the base of these trees were “strangled” by the concrete road, their growth and conditions have not been affected.

One tree still had green leaves, an indication that it was healthy, said Militante.

But he noticed that the tree leaned toward the road because of a top-heavy crown.

Militante said to prevent it from leaning, the tree crown should be pruned.

The other tree had yellowing and thinning leaves.

“There’s backfilling in the area that affected the root. Little water goes to the top. If not treated, this tree will die later on,” he said.

He said the 10-cm hole indicated that the tree was rotting inside. To stop it from rotting, he recommended that a tree surgery be conducted. Filling the cavity with concrete would stabilize the foundation of the tree.

But Militante said the tree was also improperly pruned since its branch was cut by a heavy equipment.

The third tree has a straight trunk but the root was damaged, he said. He recommended cutting clean the damaged root and apply coal tar on it.

Militante recommended the immediate removal of the concrete cement around the base of the three trees. To allow the trees to breathe, the cement should be kept at a distance of 30 cm.

These trees were among the 88 trees in Naga, San Fernando and Carcar recommended by the DENR-7 to be cut down because these were diseased and rotting.

They were part of the 154 trees that would be affected by the road widening project worth P1.025 billion in one town and two cities, which was funded by the pork barrel of former congressmen Tomas Osmeña and Eduardo Gullas.

Of the seven century-old trees in Naga, four had been cut down by personnel of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) acting on the request of the DENR.

But Environment Secretary Ramon Paje ordered a stop of all cutting of trees due to strong opposition from environmentalists.

The DENR-7 and civic groups in Cebu agreed to get a pathologist who would conduct an

independent assessment on the condition of the trees.

Montejo said he would meet with local officials in San Fernando, Naga and Carcar as well as Gov. Hilario Davide III to discuss the pruning and tree surgery on the trees.

He added he would also ask DPWH to remove the concrete that wrapped around the base of the trees.

“Why not adopt these measures? We will be having the trees and we can preserve these. At the same time, we achieve our objective that these trees should not be dangerous to our passers by,” said Montejo.