BARREN. Photo of S. Osmeña Road taken last April 3 with only two trees left standing in the center island. (CDN PHOTO/ TONEE DESPOJO)
The Sergio Osmeña Road will have smaller center islands that will no longer be able to accommodate trees, and this has always been the plan, according to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7.
“We really have to take away the center island and replace it with a smaller one. The trees will only be at the sides. There won’t be any trees in the center,” said Roy dela Cruz, one of the engineers of the road project.
They decided on this so the road will be wider, he said of the P289.5 million road project.
Work on the first phase of the project continues despite the ongoing investigation by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on the “mysterious” disappearance of trees along the center island from corner J. Luna extension to Maxilom extension.
Some of the trees were found chopped, dried and bundled, ready to be sold as firewood. Authorities are still searching for the rest of the lumber.
The DENR-7 made a re-inventory of the trees in the affected site.
Filemon Embalzado Jr., who led the team of the DENR’s Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), said 66 different trees are still standing while at least 79 are gone.
“DENR will look for some memorial parks, subdivision projects and other possible areas where these earth-balled trees could be transplanted,” said DENR-7 spokesperson Eddie Llamedo.
No one has been charged for the illegal cutting of trees, so far.
Of the missing trees, 65 were mature fire trees. There were three acacia trees, two mango trees and a neem tree. The rest were duhat, ficus, iba, narra, talisay and yellow shower tree.
There are 38 fire trees left standing on that stretch, 10 acacias, five duhat, ficus, kamanchile, narra, neem and six talisay trees.
The project contractor believes the missing lumber will no longer be found. “It’s difficult to find them anymore. The missing trees were just small, it could have already been dumped somewhere,” said Adolfo Quiroga, a consultant of WT Constructions Inc.
He met with their equipment contractors last Friday, where operators told him that some of the trees were affected by the dismantling of the center island. “It could have been included in the rubble from the construction. The operators said some of the small trees were loaded in the dumptrucks,” he added.
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