“Missing” trees CCTV footage, City insists: Show court order first

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Councilor David Tumulak, who heads the City Hall Command Center which controls the closed-circuit television system, has again refused to provide the CCTV footage showing how trees on the center island of S. Osmeña Boulevard have disappeared.

In an interview with The Freeman yesterday, Tumulak stood firm on his decision that no CCTV footage would be released without a "notice or order."

To avoid impartiality, Tumulak said the city prosecutor should directly address the request for a copy to the city government and not through any other government agencies.

"Subpoena addressed to DENR wa man gibutang nga mo-submit ang city (cctv footage). It would be better if the prosecutor will request to the city to submit the footages to avoid impartiality and to safeguard the installed cameras at least naa tay assurance nga kadtong mga locations dili ma-publicly reveal," he said.

"Unsay atong assurance sa safety sa atong mga CCTV camera og diretso ihatag sa DENR? Adto sa korte ihatag dili niya. The court will safeguard the video, not them. Ang ato lang is the safety and security sa atong cameras," he added.

Tumulak assured that once the court orders the issuance of the CCTV footage, the city will no longer think twice in submitting the "video evidence."

Last March, nearly 100 indigenous trees planted on the center island of S. Osmeña Boulevard were removed without permission from City Parks and Playground Commission, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

DENR-7 has yet to recieve a copy of the CCTV footage, which would show who took and transported the "missing" trees.

"Until now, we have not received an official reply from the Cebu City Government on the CCTV recording. We need a reply from them so that we can appropriately communicate (with) the office of the city prosecutor," said DENR 7 spokesperson Eddie Llamedo.

"If in case they will refuse to provide us a copy, we will inform the Cebu City Prosecutor's Office so that they can officially subpoena for the said recording or footage. We filed the request last July 9 and it's been 12 days," he added.

The closed circuit television is believed to be the key to shed light on the mystery of the missing trees, which were casualties of the S. Osmeña Boulevard road rehabilitation project.

A case was filed by DENR against officials of WT Construction, the contractor for the road rehabilitation project along S. Osmena Avenue, for violating Section 3 of Presidential Decree 953 "Requiring the Planting of Trees in Certain Places and Penalizing Unauthorized Cutting, Destruction, Damaging and Injuring of Certain Trees, Plants and Vegetation."

The Cebu City government has earlier refused to release a copy of the footage but has allowed the DENR and any interested party to view the video recording at the Cebu City Command Center.

The City Hall had argued that only a court order can require it to release the footage for security purposes.

The DENR-7 sent an inquiry to the National Bureau of Investigation last July 21, asking for a status report on the investigation of the "missing trees."

A technical conference with DPWH and Cebu City Government is set to be held at 9 a.m. this Thursday at the office of the regional technical director for forestry at the DENR-7 compound.

DENR 7 has already issued a statement turning down the request of the DPWH.

Llamedo stressed that even with City Hall's verbal refusal, they would still need a formal communication from them. The letter-request would serve as basis for DENR-7s next step, which is asking the City Prosecutor's Office to require the city to release a video recording copy.

"We'd like to see their official reply so that we can communicate with the Cebu City Prosecutor's Office," Llamedo said.— (FREEMAN)