The
growing interest and clamor from different sectors in protecting the row of
wonderful and grandiose acacia tree in Barangay San Agustin, Sablayan,
Occidental Mindoro in lieu of the on-going road widening project traversing the
whole Mindoro West Coast National Road is very much commendable. But is it really necessary? Maybe, in some aspect, yes. Being an
environmentalist myself, I am delighted of such a move by my fellow citizens. For
reason that I am at present “detoxifying” or under hiatus from social media, my
friend Philip Saligumba informed me of this which is according to him, already a trending issue in some FB pages and groups.
Why are those trees important not to cut? Aside from its aesthetic value, these trees are foremost important in terms of protecting, conserving and preserving our environment as what the protesters believe why they are against the felling of those trees in the pleasing woody portion in that area. This and other equally important and scientific, legal and moral reasons are included.
On the other hand, why are those trees needed to be cut? Well, logic requires that trees near a road could cause great harm and accidents to commuters specially during inclement weather. When uprooted or fall to the ground, they will surely cause accidents or delays in travel and other hazards. Generally speaking, trees belong to the forests or woods and not within the vicinity of a thorough fare or a highway due to said reasons. Is there an existing law now prohibiting the planting of trees along the highway?
But it would be very unfair for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Occidental Mindoro District Engineering Office and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Office (DENR) Occidental Mindoro if we assume outright that there was already a permit issued by the latter to the former. If the trees are really destined to be wantonly chopped. As per environmental laws, even the cutting of trees by DPWH needs a permit from the DENR. Did the protesters tried to inquire the two concerned government agencies on such a status as part of the campaigners’ homework? Do the campaigners have a doable alternative plan to present before the DENR and the DPWH? Did those who rant or comment about this cared to ask for the whole road widening project blueprint in our province? If we are serious about this concern, these important things shouldn’t be overlooked.
Talking of DENR and DPWH, why is it that in the past, when the former initiated tree planting projects along the sides of national road, why did the DPWH allow them to do such a thing then? I remember a similar project in San Jose in the 90s where trees are planted along the national road from Bagong Sikat to Central. Unluckily (or was it luckily?) no single tree seedling survived because of reasons only known to those entities and personalities involved in the project.
Even in this small-scale struggle such as this, coherence and lucidity is important like what the officials of Visayan State University (VSU) in Tacloban sometime in July 2020 did. In that particular case, upon unrelenting protest of the university officials and students, the DPWH district office was moved by the opposition and did not push through with the cutting of the trees inside the campus. Instead of widening the road and cutting several trees, the DPWH agreed to construct another lane on its west side which will be used for traffic going southbound while the existing road is going to be used by northbound vehicles. I believe that this scheme can also be applied in that span in Barangay San Agustin if the concerned officials or bodies just present an alternative proposal to remedy the problem.
For those who are all-out to save the trees from road widening projects must remember that this struggle should not be confined only to social media. If it remained there, this effort will just burst like a delicate bubble. They have to show the world, both online and offline, that the concerned agencies must not sacrifice the trees for the sake of the government’s ambitious Build, Build, Build program. Indeed, there are innovative ways we can push for development while we also take care of our natural resources and that should be our way forward.
Let us take a look in another case. In Camarines Sur, since the DENR couldn’t stop the cutting of trees due to the road widening project at the Maharlika Highway in Pili, the DENR assured that in every tree cut, 100 new ones will be planted within the vicinity. On the other hand in Pototan, Iloilo, since the DPWH was given permit by the DENR to cut over 5,000 trees to give way to the project that covers 13 barangays also requiring DPWH to replace each tree with at least 100 seedlings. I do not buy this one. There had been left and right tree planting projects and Arbor Days now and in the past from down and above and there is also the National Greening Program but what now? Many planted trees but nobody lifted a finger to grow and take care of them. Just like the project in San Jose that I mentioned above.
Deforestation in Occidental Mindoro is threating then and now in a very alarming scale. According to Global Forest Watch, from 2001 to 2019, Occidental Mindoro lost 20.2kha of tree cover since 2000 and 7.39Mt of CO2 emissions. From 2001 to 2019, Occidental Mindoro lost 556has of humid primary forest, making up 2.9% of its total tree cover in the same time period. Total area of humid primary forest in the province decreased by 1.4% in this time period according to said global environmental group.
Of the two proposal and consequent solutions, I prefer the former. That one implemented in Tacloban. In whatever instance, it is imperative to know and to influence the stand of the local government unit, both the executive and legislative branches on the issue. In December, 2019 in Cebu City, the DPWH in Central Visayas proceeded with the rode widening at N. Bacalso National Highway after two months of break following the refusal of the city government to cut the trees in the area. The city council sought for the suspension of the DPWH project and requested for the reassessment of their project permit, especially the tree-cutting permit.
The Cebu City august body assured that the DPWH should follow the guidelines of the DENR when it would come to the cutting or earth balling of the trees, which would depend on the width of the tree by making a legislation on that one.
If those trees cannot be really saved, at least there should be a massive, well-funded, well-oiled and serious forest park or reforestation projects in areas far from the highways. Remember, there are still on-going road projects in the island traversing our forests and woods where thousands of trees are imperative to be chopped or cut down.
A dialogue towards this effort, or similar to this is imperative. Indeed, this issue can be elevated to respective LGUs specifically the local legislative board, - be it municipal or provincial. We need able-bodied "green" legislators for this one.
Not just netizens, not just in social media.
----------
No comments:
Post a Comment