HOW COULD have I possibly missed such a “criminal” statement?
Sonny Dobles of the Advocacy for the Development of Central Luzon ribbed me over the phone.
What? I asked.
He read me part of the news story where I based my column on Public Works Director Alfredo Tolentino’s seeming change of heart on the cutting of trees along MacArthur Highway pursuant to the road’s widening.
Read he: “For DENR Regional Technical Director on Forestry Sofio Quintana however, the old trees “would just have to go away.”
“They are just too old and decaying. Instead of these trees helping in curbing pollution, they are the ones now emitting carbon monoxide. It will be too expensive to treat or do surgery on the trees. Besides, they are too hazardous to the public.”
He said that?
It is right here in the papers, Mister Dobles affirmed.
What environment official dare damn those acacia trees forming a healthy canopy of green over MacArthur Highway in Barangay Baliti as “old and decaying” and therefore fit to be cut?
Same as the health officer who would say old and sickly people ought to be euthanize, Mister Dobles retorted.
That’s highly criminal of one mandated to respect life, to restore health!
As criminal as of one mandated to protect the environment but prescribing the massacre of old trees instead.
Yeah, from what woodwork did this Sofio character worm himself out?
And the gall to say that these “decaying” trees “are the ones emitting carbon monoxide”!
What I know – from grade school yet – is trees take in carbon dioxide, go into some process, and then emit oxygen. That decaying matter emits – not carbon monoxide – but methane gas.
But then, what do I know compared to this Sofio character, purportedly the DENR Regional Technical Director for Forestry.
It is good to know some re-affirmation of one’s grade school learning on trees from some people farthest from the Socio character mold.
The acting city environment and natural resources officer of San Fernando, Gemma Doble – no relation to Mister Dobles – had this to say: “Even in that state, they still function as filters of carbon dioxide and clean the air.”
Still, this Sofio could not be contained: “Not all of them anyway would be cut. Twenty-three percent of them would be earth-balled and moved.”
Miss Doble – per the news item – explained that earth-balling, a process where trees are uprooted and its principal roots “balled” with the soil, wrapped and then transplanted, is much more expensive than treating the old and damaged trees.
“And the chances of earth-balled trees surviving is a little bit slim,” she cautioned. Yes, we heard that the DPWH did ball one tree and it did not survive a week.
Voices continue to be raised against the permit issued by DENR Secretary Lito Atienza allowing the cutting of trees along MacArthur Highway.
Board Member Ricardo Yabut – a brother of DPWH Usec Pye Yabut – himself is standing for those trees: “I am personally against cutting the trees along the Manila North Road (MacArthur Highway). You can just imagine the impact of this on our environment, especially with the current global warming. We can either trim or prune them and then maintain them to avoid damage. But if ever it could not be avoided, replacement trees should be no less than six feet in height. The expense doesn’t matter as long as the environment is cared for.”
“Yabut added that there is no need to widen roads here and from Bulacan since the volume is now manageable. He would support Mayor Oscar Rodriguez’s proposal to create a park there and preserve the trees as well a conduct an on-site visit to the areas while consulting with the local government units hit by the permit.” So read newspaper accounts.
For his part, Mayor Rodriguez was quoted as saying: “It’s an order from a national agency and there’s nothing we could do about that. But if they ask me, I am not in favor of cutting all those trees. The city government is strong in its environmental protection advocacy. We would want to preserve them as legacy to our children and the generations to come. We will consult officials on this and seek for a better option and alternative.”
Better hurry up, Sirs. They have started cutting trees along the Sindalan stretch.
With the DPWH’s Tolentino’s seeming epiphany, it would really look now that it is the DENR that is bent on cutting all those trees. With Atienza as head, and this Sofio character as regional director, the DENR has indeed come to mean Degradation of the Environment and Negation of all Resources.
Criminal!
Sonny Dobles of the Advocacy for the Development of Central Luzon ribbed me over the phone.
What? I asked.
He read me part of the news story where I based my column on Public Works Director Alfredo Tolentino’s seeming change of heart on the cutting of trees along MacArthur Highway pursuant to the road’s widening.
Read he: “For DENR Regional Technical Director on Forestry Sofio Quintana however, the old trees “would just have to go away.”
“They are just too old and decaying. Instead of these trees helping in curbing pollution, they are the ones now emitting carbon monoxide. It will be too expensive to treat or do surgery on the trees. Besides, they are too hazardous to the public.”
He said that?
It is right here in the papers, Mister Dobles affirmed.
What environment official dare damn those acacia trees forming a healthy canopy of green over MacArthur Highway in Barangay Baliti as “old and decaying” and therefore fit to be cut?
Same as the health officer who would say old and sickly people ought to be euthanize, Mister Dobles retorted.
That’s highly criminal of one mandated to respect life, to restore health!
As criminal as of one mandated to protect the environment but prescribing the massacre of old trees instead.
Yeah, from what woodwork did this Sofio character worm himself out?
And the gall to say that these “decaying” trees “are the ones emitting carbon monoxide”!
What I know – from grade school yet – is trees take in carbon dioxide, go into some process, and then emit oxygen. That decaying matter emits – not carbon monoxide – but methane gas.
But then, what do I know compared to this Sofio character, purportedly the DENR Regional Technical Director for Forestry.
It is good to know some re-affirmation of one’s grade school learning on trees from some people farthest from the Socio character mold.
The acting city environment and natural resources officer of San Fernando, Gemma Doble – no relation to Mister Dobles – had this to say: “Even in that state, they still function as filters of carbon dioxide and clean the air.”
Still, this Sofio could not be contained: “Not all of them anyway would be cut. Twenty-three percent of them would be earth-balled and moved.”
Miss Doble – per the news item – explained that earth-balling, a process where trees are uprooted and its principal roots “balled” with the soil, wrapped and then transplanted, is much more expensive than treating the old and damaged trees.
“And the chances of earth-balled trees surviving is a little bit slim,” she cautioned. Yes, we heard that the DPWH did ball one tree and it did not survive a week.
Voices continue to be raised against the permit issued by DENR Secretary Lito Atienza allowing the cutting of trees along MacArthur Highway.
Board Member Ricardo Yabut – a brother of DPWH Usec Pye Yabut – himself is standing for those trees: “I am personally against cutting the trees along the Manila North Road (MacArthur Highway). You can just imagine the impact of this on our environment, especially with the current global warming. We can either trim or prune them and then maintain them to avoid damage. But if ever it could not be avoided, replacement trees should be no less than six feet in height. The expense doesn’t matter as long as the environment is cared for.”
“Yabut added that there is no need to widen roads here and from Bulacan since the volume is now manageable. He would support Mayor Oscar Rodriguez’s proposal to create a park there and preserve the trees as well a conduct an on-site visit to the areas while consulting with the local government units hit by the permit.” So read newspaper accounts.
For his part, Mayor Rodriguez was quoted as saying: “It’s an order from a national agency and there’s nothing we could do about that. But if they ask me, I am not in favor of cutting all those trees. The city government is strong in its environmental protection advocacy. We would want to preserve them as legacy to our children and the generations to come. We will consult officials on this and seek for a better option and alternative.”
Better hurry up, Sirs. They have started cutting trees along the Sindalan stretch.
With the DPWH’s Tolentino’s seeming epiphany, it would really look now that it is the DENR that is bent on cutting all those trees. With Atienza as head, and this Sofio character as regional director, the DENR has indeed come to mean Degradation of the Environment and Negation of all Resources.
Criminal!
