P’sinan board eyes charges over cutting of highway trees

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, Philippines – The provincial board is proposing to file a criminal case against some officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and some contractors responsible for the cutting of old trees along the MacArthur Highway.

Sixth district Board Member Alfonso Bince Jr. told The STAR after the Question Hour yesterday where officials of these government offices were invited to shed light on the issue, that they would also seek an injunction to stop the cutting of the remaining trees. 

The lengthy probe would resume next week. Bince said they did not receive any Sangguniang Bayan resolutions from Urdaneta City and Rosales, Villasis, Binalonan, Pozorrubio and Sison towns endorsing the cutting of trees for the road-widening project.

Emmanuel Diaz, officer-in-charge of the DPWH 3rd District Engineering Office based in Rosales town, showed the board a copy of a letter from DENR-Region 1 executive director Samuel Peñafiel that pursuant to the clearance issued by the field operations undersecretary dated Oct. 6, 2013, a special tree-cutting and earth-balling permit was granted to his office for the cutting of 1,829 trees and earth-balling of 107 saplings to be affected by the widening of the Manila North Road which traverses Rosales and Sison towns. 

The 1,829 trees, of various species, had a diameter of at least 16 centimeters, and the saplings, 15 centimeters. The trees are in Sison (202), Pozorrubio (495), Binalonan (598), Urdaneta (162), Villasis (272), and Rosales (100).

For every tree cut, 100 seedlings/saplings would be planted as replacement.

Leduina Co, provincial environment and natural resources officer, said people are enraged seeing trees that were girdled, meaning these are marked for cutting. These can still be saved through tree surgery, she said.

Co said there are 770 uncut trees that are girdled, adding that they have also identified 255 trees from those given permits to be cut.

Former Pangasinan fifth district congressman Mark Cojuangco who openly admitted to having pushed national agencies to secure get permits for tree-cutting in his former turf (now occupied by his wife, Rep. Kimi Cojuangco) for the road-widening project, said he “used moral suasion so that these DENR and DPWH officials would do their job right without being affected by politics or be bullied by special interest groups at that time.” 

“To our belief, the road-widening project was to ease traffic congestion, save time and fuel because 60,000 vehicles pass through MNR (Manila North Road). If you save one liter from Sison to Villasis times 60,000, how much carbon dioxide can be saved daily that could pollute our air? They should ask, can these trees suck this worth 60,000 liters of fuel a day? How much pollution would that be?” Cojuangco said. 

He said the cut trees would be replaced by replanting with a ratio of 1:100.

Cojuangco added that in the 2010 budget, he was able to insert P45 million so trees could be planted outside the Manila North Road. But this did not push through but if it did, there would have been big trees now, he added.

He said the road-widening project in the fifth district had been delayed for three years and this funding could have been given to other areas if not implemented now.

“This is my personal opinion. There’s too much pandering to emotion, not balanced for the interest of the people with the economy, livelihood, time and wasted fuel in their cars, in their efficiency, but only appealing to emotional-based instincts of the people in the cutting of trees instead of looking at the positive consequences of the road widening,” he said. 

Running priest Fr. Robert Reyes, who came here yesterday, assailed the absence of consultation with the people on the tree cutting. 

In a statement, his group said, “It has failed to make the necessary shift toward a sustainable development paradigm that puts a premium on the protection of the environment and natural resources over the pursuit of monetary profits and other short-term economic gains.”