Contractor, engineer charged; DENR orders to replace lost trees with 7,900 trees

Two weeks after a long row of fire trees disappeared from the center of S. Osmeña Road,  charges of illegal destruction were filed against the private contractor rehabilitating the national road.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Central Visayas yesterday filed the charges against six officers of WT Construction Inc. and its engineer in charge.

Charged before the  Cebu City Prosecutors Office were  Irene Te (president), Willy Te (vice president), Julie Te (secretary), Juanita Te (treasurer), Mary Grace Te and Mary Joy Te, and project-in-charge Engr. Adolfo Quiroga.

The seven were accused of violating Section 3 of Presidential Decree 953, a  law “Requiring the planting of trees in certain places and penalizing unauthorized cutting, destruction, damaging and injuring of certain trees, plants and vegetation.”

The contractor, in an earlier letter to the DENR, said the 79 trees were not cut down at all but that some “fell” and had to be removed because of accidental “flooding” from a busted water pipe, an explanation that the agency rejected.

DRIED UP OR DEAD

The DENR said the trees could no longer be found and likely were already dried up and dead.

“These trees could have been dehydrated and eventually died given a nearly three-week time after their disappearance,” said DENR Regional Executive Director Isabelo Montejo in a letter dated April 14.

The DENR said it cannot lift its Cease and Desist Order (CDO) against further earth-balling of trees in the road project.

Montejo said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) which supervises the project and the contractor  has to first replace the loss of 79 trees with 7,900 seedlings “and plant them all in the national greening program (NGP) sites within the administrative jurisdiction of Cenro Cebu City.”

The DPWH is also required to “maintain these trees for a maximum period of three years to ensure 100 percent survival.”

Montejo said the DPWH and its contractor violated conditions of the permit to remove the trees by earth-balling:  namely: (1) only the trees as shown in the inventory report will be allowed to ball-out; (2) The DENR and Cebu City Parks and Playgrounds Commission  would be present to supervise the activity (3) the trees will be transplanted to areas identified such as Mahiga Creek, San Pedro Calungsod Shrine and Barangay

Lorega Triangle; (4) for each transplanted tree doesn’t survive, the DPWH 7 will produce about 100 seedlings.

“Very clearly, condition numbers 1, 2 and 3 have not been complied with and up to this writing we have not located these “disappeared” trees,” he said.

It was Cebu City Councilor Nida Cabrera who first complained of the sudden disappearance of trees during a privilege speech in the regular session of the council on April 2.

She was shocked to discover that the trees, mostly fire trees planted by the city government seven years ago, were gone over the weekend after the March 29 celebration of Earth Day.

Days earlier, there were discussions with the DPWH, contractor and City Parks and Playgrounds Commission to have the trees earth-balled and  transferred alive to other government sites.  A permit was issued by the DENR with specific conditions.

The trees occupied 900-meter portion of the N. Osmeña Road from the crossing of Juan Luna Extension to the crossing in Gen. Maxilom Avenue.

A reinventory by the DENR showed that at least 79 trees were removed and 66 remain standing.

The DPWH said that the design of the new N. Osmeña Road would have a smaller center island that coud no longer accommodate trees.  The concrete island was demolished.

Acting Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer for Cebu City Anastacio C. Cabalejo who filed the complaint said what occurred was “illegal destruction/damage” of the planted trees along the center island of S. Osmena Road in barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.

WT Construction is implementing the P289 million rehabilitation of the S. Osmeña  road in the North Reclamation Area where traffic has been rerouted since mid-March.

Section 3 of PD 953 prohibits “any person who cuts, destroys, damages or injures, naturally growing or planted trees of any kind, flowering or ornamental plants and shrubs, or plants of scenic, aesthetic and ecological values, along public roads, in plazas, parks other than national parks, school premises or in any other public ground or place, or on banks of rivers or creeks, or along roads in land subdivisions or areas therein for the common use of the owners of lots therein, or any species of vegetation or forest cover found therein.”
P5,000 FINE

The law punishes violators with six months to two years in jail or a fine of P500 to P5,000, or both.  Under this law, if the offender is a corporation, the penalty shall be imposed on the officers responsible.

Asked why the Forestry Code or Presidential Decree 705, which has a stiffer penalty was not cited in the complaint,  DENR 7 spokesman Eddie Llamedo said PD 705 refers to illegal lumber cases.

“PD  953 is the most applicable law to be anchored with,” he said.

A copy of video footage of security cameras that recorded the removal of trees was not released by the Cebu city government to the DENR 7, which made a formal request.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he welcomed the environment agency’s filing of the case.

“Very good. Still, we can join. I will still call a meeting with the legal office, DPWH, DENR, and WT so we can pursue a proper direction,” Rama said.

The mayor said the city government may not need to file another case against the contractor.

“If dili na kinahanglan, nganong mag-apil apil pa man ta(If it’s not necessary, why should we join in)? DENR is the better agency,” he said.

The  DPWH also welcomed the filing of the case.

“That was their plan all along. That’s good so that everything will be done and that there will be a final decision,” said DPWH Engr. Roy Dela Cruz who is among those assigned to oversee the road project.

The 7,900 trees can cover about 16 hectares in the NGP plantations in forestland or timberland areas.

UNBELIEVABLE

The DENR found it  hard to believe that the trees were washed out or uprooted by flooding allegedly caused by broken waterpipes.

“We thought that it was highly improbable and unlikely that a burst MCWD pipe could have resulted a flooding which cause trees to fall down as explained by DPWH 7 and WT Construction Inc. Also, the explanation does not mention exhaustive or extensive efforts to exactly locate these trees on the part of DPWH 7 as an earth-ball permit holder,” Montejo said.

He said a ‘cloudburst’  in Cebu City last Jan. 25 , 2011 carried  100 millimeter rainfall, but there were “no reports trees tumbled or disappeared.”

In in its official letter reply to DENR, DPWH Regional Director Ador Canlas and WT Construction flatly denied cutting down the trees.

Canlas also requested that the CDO be lifted so as not to hamper the road works, which is in a tight schedule after Rama requested that it be done before the Sinulog celebration, earlier than their April 2015 original deadline.

Canlas was in Pampanga since Tuesday and not available for comment, said rding to DPWH 7 spokesperson Marie Nillama.

“We still have to read the DENR’s letter and discuss it. But we really don’t have a budget for seedlings so it’s difficult for us,” Nillama said.