DENR says Sucat Road's trees 'overtrimmed'

A forester of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said yesterday the trees along Dr. A. Santos Avenue in Parañaque City looked “overtrimmed,” based on a photograph from The STAR.

“There should be branches and leaves left if the trees were only trimmed or pruned… So based on the photo, the trees seemed to have been overtrimmed,” forester Jess Javier, of the DENR’s Forest Management Bureau (FMB), said in a phone interview with The Star.

He said he instructed the agency’s Urban Forestry Division in the National Capital Region (NCR) to conduct an actual inspection of the trees.

In a separate interview, forester Rolly Laroya of the DENR-NCR’s Urban Forestry Division said he has directed the immediate on-site checking of the affected trees on what was formerly known as Sucat Road, as well as the verification of whether the trimming has an appropriate permit from the agency.

According to Laroya, a permit is usually sought before trimming or pruning trees, especially if the trees are among the regulated or “prohibited species” such as narra, despite a provision under Presidential Decree 953 allowing local government units (LGUs) to issue similar permit.

He said people who will trim trees must be “knowledgeable” and, better yet, request technical assistance from the DENR-NCR’s Urban Forestry Division.

“The trimming/pruning of trees depends on the purpose, but usually not all the branches are cut. There are prescribed limits for trimming trees, but it also depends on the size and characteristics of the tree. A tree can die from too much trimming,” Laroya said.

The DENR-NCR’s Urban Forestry Division was also directed to re-issue its guidelines on the trimming or pruning of trees to remind local government units on the proper trimming or pruning of trees in their respective jurisdiction.

Parañaque Mayor Florencio Bernabe Jr., a self-confessed agriculture enthusiast, said the “normal annual trimming” of trees along Dr. A. Santos Avenue was meant to stop the trees from growing too big and blocking the light from the streetlamps at night. He said the trees would not die because of the trimming.