DPWH blames contractor in tree-cutting case

BAGUIO CITY—The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said its contractor was responsible for uprooting 32 pine trees in a road project in Barangay (village) Happy Hallow here, which has become the subject of a May 14 complaint filed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) against DPWH.

Edgardo Flor, city environment and natural resources officer (Cenro), said DENR sued officials of DPWH’s Baguio district engineering office and the contractor, Goldrich Construction and Trading, for uprooting trees that stood in the way of a road widening project inside the Camp John Hay forest reservation despite the absence of permits.

Flor said Goldrich removed 13 trees on April 12 and 19, more trees on April 20, despite a cease and desist order issued by Clarence Baguilat, DENR Cordillera director.

Flor said the act makes the DPWH and the contractor liable for violating two counts of the revised Forestry Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree No. 705), as well as Executive Order No. 23 issued by President Benigno Aquino III to enforce a moratorium on logging.

The moratorium prevents DENR from issuing tree-cutting permits except for cases when trees pose danger to lives and property or are obstructing development projects.

Goldrich was commissioned to fulfill the last contract that would complete the Baguio circumferential road project, said Ireneo Gallato, Baguio district engineer.

The project allows motorists to drive from the western section of the summer capital to the eastern section without crossing downtown Baguio.

Gallato said DPWH ordered Goldrich to hasten the construction before the rainy season sets in, but plans to widen the road along Barangay Happy Hallow required displacing 157 pine trees.

Gallato said he directed Goldrich, as early as March 7, “to skip sections of the road contract where trees and utility poles currently stand until we negotiate for the permits to remove them.”

The DPWH, he said, applied for a tree cutting permit on March 30.

Gallato said they were caught off guard when DENR called their attention in April about the trees uprooted allegedly by Goldrich.

The DENR complaint, filed at the city prosecutor’s office, cited testimonies made by Goldrich workers, claiming that they were instructed by their employer to push the trees because these were supposedly in the way of road widening operations.

Gallato said the circumferential road has been categorized as a national road, which would require it to be 8 meters wide and paved with 9 to 12 inches thick concrete.

He said DPWH has referred the matter to its legal office. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon