CABANATUAN CITY – Over a dozen of acacia trees along the national highway in Barangay Valdefuente here got a new lease on life after the court ordered government agencies and a private contractor to “find ways” to preserve them while maintaining the integrity of the infrastructure project.
Regional Trial Court Branch 29 Judge Felizardo Montero, Jr., who hears the Writ of Kalikasan case against the cutting of century old trees gave respondents Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the private contractor until Aug. 6, 2014 or 15 days from the issuance of order to file their comment.
The case was filed by petitioners Barangay Valdefuente Chair Edgardo Bautista and City Prosecutor Renato Villaroman on behalf of environmentalists .
Named respondents in this Writ of Kalikasan case were Danny G. Sarmenta, a private contractor and owner of the DG Sarmenta Construction; Engineer Ulysses C. Llado Jr., chief of the Nueva Ecija 2nd Engineering District, with address at San Isidro; and City Environment and Natural Resources Offi cer (CENRO) Ariel M. Mendoza, all of this city.
The petitioners alleged that several “big acacia trees and other hard wood species lining the Maharlika Highway in (adjacent) Barangay Daang Sarile have already been cut in order to give way to the (putting up) of concrete culvert.”
“These trees are priceless and their importance is beyond question,” the petitioners stated. The petitioners initially sought a temporary environmental protection order (TEPO) but Executive Judge Primo Sio, Jr., found no extreme urgency as required by the rules on issuance by the judge of a 72-hour TEPO thus the record of the case was instead immediately forwarded to Montero on July 11.
During the recent proceedings, Montero advised the parties to search for ways and means to preserve the status of the century- old trees while at the same time preserving the integrity of the construction being undertaken in the road-widening project.
This case was apparently the first of its kind being heard in Nueva Ecija.
