Councilor Dizon to city government: Don’t remove trees along N. Bacalso Avenue

The Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH-7) puts up a notice of approved tree cutting permit along Don Gil Garcia Street last September 21, 2019, where five trees were cut down. | CDND PHOTO / Gerard Francisco

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon urged the city government to deny the permit requested by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) that will lead to the removal of 122 trees along Natalio Bacalso Highway.

Instead, Dizon suggested to the city government to incorporate the 122 trees in the road design of the area.

Dizon delivered this statement in response to the statement of fellow Councilor Jerry Guardo, who said that the 122 trees along N. Bacalso Highway need to be transferred to pave way for the road-widening project of the DPWH.

READ: Guardo: 122 trees along N. Bacalso Avenue need to be cut, transferred

In a statement, Dizon said the city administration should not approve the removal of the trees if they want a “green city” in the next three years.

“If the current city administration is indeed serious in its environmental driveway to plant three million trees in the next three years, then it should not approve DPWH’s request to cut the trees to pave way for its road-widening project. Can’t we incorporate tree preservation in our road design?” said Dizon.

Dizon said that it is not enough that 100 seedlings will be planted to replace the cut trees because this does not guarantee that all the planted seedlings will grow to be healthy trees.

If this is the move of the DPWH and the city government, Dizon said they should provide statistics on the survival rate of the replacement or replanted trees.

The councilor also reminded the DPWH that impact mitigation should be a priority in urban planning, which includes ensuring the effects of the project on the environment.

“Impact mitigation in urban planning puts a premium on avoidance of risks and impacts. This means that the project design should exhaust all possibilities so that impacts, environment being one, are the least possible made. Can’t we work around nature in our road projects?” said Dizon.

According to Dizon, the Cebu City Council has declared a climate emergency on October 15, 2019, as an “urgent” response to the current environmental disasters faced by Cebu.

With this declaration, Dizon said the city commits to the health and well-being of all people and protect the right of the environment to benefit future generations.

Dizon said Mayor Edgardo Labella is well to remember this. / celr