Gov allowed to file suit to stop tree-cutting

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—The provincial board on Monday authorized Gov. Amado Espino Jr. to exhaust all legal means, including suing the public works and environment departments, to stop the cutting of trees along the Manila North Road (MNR) in the eastern part of the province.

In three previous resolutions, the board warned the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to refrain from cutting the trees. One member said the appeal had fallen on deaf ears.

The DPWH resumed its tree-cutting activities along the MNR on Nov. 23 after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional office extended for 45 days the permit it issued to the agency in November 2013.

Road-widening project

In an earlier interview, Emmanuel Diaz, DPWH district engineer, said the trees had to be toppled so his agency could complete its project to widen the road along a 42-kilometer stretch in the towns of Rosales, Villasis, Binalonan, Pozorrubio and Sison, and in Urdaneta City.

The permit, which will expire on Dec. 17, authorizes the agency to cut 589 trees and earth-ball 107 others. It was extended despite a nongovernment organization’s petition for an Urdaneta court to issue a temporary environmental protection order to save the trees.

In February 2014, some 770 of the 1,829 trees marked for cutting were spared when the DPWH’s tree-cutting permit expired. But 181 were felled in September because these were either dead or dying from girdling, a process of peeling off bark from the trunk to prevent nutrients from circulating inside the tree.

As of Sunday, 357 of 589 trees had been felled, said Narchito Arpilleda, DPWH information officer. “We really have to finish cutting all the trees before our permit expires. The DENR may not grant us a permit anymore,” he said.

In a letter to the provincial board on Nov. 24, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said the trees, which are within MNR’s right of way, had to be removed for the safety and convenience of the public.

“The widening of road projects, especially in constricted areas, is necessary for the socioeconomic development of the country in general, particularly Pangasinan. The DPWH sees to it that development is permitted only if mitigating measures are implemented to counteract the negative impacts on the environment,” Singson said.

As a mitigating measure, he said every felled tree along the MNR had been replaced with the planting of 100 seedlings.

TRO sought

In the resolution, the provincial board authorized Espino to seek the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and a writ of preliminary injunction for the DPWH and DENR to stop the tree-cutting.

But Board Member Alfonso Bince Jr. cited Presidential Decree No. 1818 that stopped courts from issuing TROs against government projects.

Provincial legal officer Geraldine Baniqued said the case would not be against the road widening project but against the cutting of trees.

Board Member Danilo Uy, a resident of Pozorrubio, said the filing for a TRO would be moot because the DPWH contractor has intensified its tree-cutting activities since Friday.

“There may not be any tree left standing. They have been cutting trees even on Saturdays and Sundays and even at night,” Uy said. Yolanda Sotelo, Gabriel Cardinoza and Johanne Margarette Macob, Inquirer Northern Luzon