Tree-cutting along Quirino Avenue voluntarily suspended, DENR says

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Wednesday said the tree-cutting activities along Quirino Avenue for the Southern Access Link Expressway (SALEX) project have been voluntarily suspended.

DENR Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna, during Kapihan sa Manila Bay, said the project proponents agreed to suspend the tree-cutting activities.

“Right now, the cutting, they voluntarily stopped. And we're agreeable to this. Itigil muna. Pag-aaralan pa nang husto, baka may mga maidagdag pa doon sa earth balling,” he said.

(Right now, the cutting, they voluntarily stopped. And we're agreeable to this. Stop it for now. It will be studied thoroughly, maybe there will be more trees to be added for the earth balling.)

According to Cuna, the permit issued by the DENR covers up to 617 trees along portions of the project within Manila. He said 245 trees have been cut so far.

A total of 94 trees were identified for possible transplantation. Of which, 27 have already undergone earthballing.

The DENR earlier said strict environmental safeguards and rehabilitation measures are in place for tree-cutting activities along Quirino Avenue in Manila amid public uproar.

No tree removal is authorized without a legal basis, environmental safeguards, and long-term rehabilitation requirements, the DENR pointed out.

The Catholic Church’s social aid and development arm has denounced the cutting of trees along Quirino Avenue for a highway project, calling it an “act of ecological violence against the people of Manila.”

Caritas Philippines president Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos earlier described the cutting of trees as a “direct assault” on the poor who endure the extreme heat, polluted air, and flooding

“Why must ‘development’ always demand the sacrifice of the vulnerable? Why are our cities designed for vehicles and concrete instead of for children, workers, pedestrians, and the elderly?” Alminaza said.

“As Church, we stand firmly against every form of development that destroys creation and deepens the suffering of the people,” he added. —AOL, GMA News