DENR: Cutting of trees for infra projects inevitable

Hundreds of trees will be sacrificed for various energy and infrastructure projects in the coming months.

 

This was revealed on Thursday by Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, who admitted that cutting down trees is often an inevitable and difficult decision for the agency.

 

Paje said the Department of Energy (DoE) and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have recently asked their permission to cut trees for various projects. The DPWH said it wants to axe 1,000 trees so that they can proceed with the construction of the Pangasinan-Tarlac highway, while the DoE said it needed to remove trees to build transmission lines.

 

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has cut down trees to make way for its new offices in Quezon City, 

 

Paje admitted that giving permission to cut trees for economic projects is a “difficult” issue for the DENR, which is currently in the middle of a nationwide greening program. Under the government program, the DENR is spearheading the reforestation of eight million hectares of denuded and open forestlands.

 

Paje said the DENR has to weigh the pros and cons of cutting trees. “For instance, we cannot tell the DoE not to cut down trees if it means installing power lines,” he said.

 

“It is always a balancing, high-wire act to maintain environmental protection and economic development,” he explained.

 

Aside from the government agencies, private companies and individuals have also asked the DENR to remove trees from their properties. “The problem here is that we cannot just subvert private rights,” Paje said.

 

Paje said the agency could only direct private and government agencies to implement mitigation measures in exchange for their permission to cut trees. For every tree they cut, they have to plant three, he said. The DENR also suggested that they save some of the trees by earth-balling and replanting them somewhere else.

 

Paje made his statement as environmentalists clashed with SM City Baguio, which have cut down trees to make space for a new mall wing and parking area.

 

On Wednesday, a Baguio court issued a three-day temporary environmental protection order (TEPO) against the cutting of trees in Luneta Hill in response to a petition from environment groups.  

The environment chief acknowledged that the issuance of the TEPO was in accordance with the rules of procedure on environmental cases drawn up by the Supreme Court.

 

The DENR said 40 Alnus and one Benguet pine tree have already been reported cut or earth-balled from Luneta Hill as of Wednesday.

 

SM City Baguio is planning to remove a total of 182 such trees from the site. The management previously inventoried trees for cutting and earth-balling from the site to give way to a proposed expansion project. In return, the mall developer committed to plant over 50,000 trees to replace the affected trees. — TJD/YA, GMA News