READ A news item: “…Manifesting his concern for the “sacrifice” of the trees and the environment, (Public Works and Highways Regional Director Alfredo Tolentino) said: ‘There might be other solutions to this. Anyway, I personally do not see further widening of the roads here. Traffic is now manageable in MacArthur Highway because of the SCTEx and NLEx.’”
So, why not start seriously considering “the other options”? Why should be resigned to “no other recourse but to follow the order” when you don’t even have to “vow to do sampling first” of a portion where trees would be cut to show and demonstrate to the public and environmentalists what the DPWH would do.
Do the other solutions. That’s what the DPWH ought to do. If indeed, as its Central Luzon top honcho said, there was no need for a further widening of the road, given the NLEx and SCTEx , and that “only those public transport vehicles and some who cannot afford toll fees are using (MacArthur Highway) now.”
Over a year ago – June 2, 2008 to be exact, there was Tolentino in a face-off at the sangguniang panlalawigan (SP) with environmentalists arguing the case for the cutting of thousands of decades-old trees along MacArthur Highway to pave the way for its expansion into a four-lane highway.
Even as Sonny Dobles of the Advocacy for the Development of Central Luzon was expounding on the adverse impact to the environment of tree cutting, Tolentino was steadfast in his defense of the road-widening plan, saying it was “part of GMA’s good program for the people.”
In the heat of passion at the sanggunian hall came Tolentino’s cutting call: “Ang progreso ay hindi dapat masakripisyo para lamang sa mga halamang ito. (Progress should not be sacrificed for the sake of these trees.)”
And followed by the non-sequitur of his minions citing statistics that blamed the acacia trees for the vehicular accidents along that stretch of MacArthur Highway where the trees stood.
I remember standing up, hurling a four-letter word which the SP asked be excised from the record, and did my own soliloquy on the trees:
What development can we speak of if nature is being destroyed? This government has lost its priority of values…
Was the fact that Angeles City is a good-time area and many of those accidents were traced to drunken driving ever factored in your study? Let us stop calling those acacias as killer trees. They don’t dart to the middle of the highway to meet oncoming traffic, do they?
Yesterday, in that same news item we started this column with, Tolentino did a complete turnabout, saying: “And why blame the trees for the accidents? All of those accidents that occurred are man-made like drunk drivers or unscrupulous and undisciplined motorists. That’s not the tree’s fault but the driver’s.”
Do we see some epiphany in Tolentino there?
No Damascus Gate a la Saul is ever needed for Tolentino to convert to the cause of the trees. All that he needed to do was drive through MacArthur Highway from Apalit in Pampanga to Malolos in Bulacan and see what the DPWH road-widening project has so far accomplished.
Jeepney and tricycle terminals, vulcanizing shops, ambulant vendors with their wares – from fish to metal tools, occupying the “widened” part of the highway. Everything and anything there but to speed up travel.
And you have to sacrifice those trees for this?
Weep, Tolentino. But no crocodile tears, please.
So, why not start seriously considering “the other options”? Why should be resigned to “no other recourse but to follow the order” when you don’t even have to “vow to do sampling first” of a portion where trees would be cut to show and demonstrate to the public and environmentalists what the DPWH would do.
Do the other solutions. That’s what the DPWH ought to do. If indeed, as its Central Luzon top honcho said, there was no need for a further widening of the road, given the NLEx and SCTEx , and that “only those public transport vehicles and some who cannot afford toll fees are using (MacArthur Highway) now.”
Over a year ago – June 2, 2008 to be exact, there was Tolentino in a face-off at the sangguniang panlalawigan (SP) with environmentalists arguing the case for the cutting of thousands of decades-old trees along MacArthur Highway to pave the way for its expansion into a four-lane highway.
Even as Sonny Dobles of the Advocacy for the Development of Central Luzon was expounding on the adverse impact to the environment of tree cutting, Tolentino was steadfast in his defense of the road-widening plan, saying it was “part of GMA’s good program for the people.”
In the heat of passion at the sanggunian hall came Tolentino’s cutting call: “Ang progreso ay hindi dapat masakripisyo para lamang sa mga halamang ito. (Progress should not be sacrificed for the sake of these trees.)”
And followed by the non-sequitur of his minions citing statistics that blamed the acacia trees for the vehicular accidents along that stretch of MacArthur Highway where the trees stood.
I remember standing up, hurling a four-letter word which the SP asked be excised from the record, and did my own soliloquy on the trees:
What development can we speak of if nature is being destroyed? This government has lost its priority of values…
Was the fact that Angeles City is a good-time area and many of those accidents were traced to drunken driving ever factored in your study? Let us stop calling those acacias as killer trees. They don’t dart to the middle of the highway to meet oncoming traffic, do they?
Yesterday, in that same news item we started this column with, Tolentino did a complete turnabout, saying: “And why blame the trees for the accidents? All of those accidents that occurred are man-made like drunk drivers or unscrupulous and undisciplined motorists. That’s not the tree’s fault but the driver’s.”
Do we see some epiphany in Tolentino there?
No Damascus Gate a la Saul is ever needed for Tolentino to convert to the cause of the trees. All that he needed to do was drive through MacArthur Highway from Apalit in Pampanga to Malolos in Bulacan and see what the DPWH road-widening project has so far accomplished.
Jeepney and tricycle terminals, vulcanizing shops, ambulant vendors with their wares – from fish to metal tools, occupying the “widened” part of the highway. Everything and anything there but to speed up travel.
And you have to sacrifice those trees for this?
Weep, Tolentino. But no crocodile tears, please.
