Video shows WT backhoe, but no removal of trees

SOME were convinced, others were not.

Yesterday’s closed-door viewing of over an hour of security camera footage along S. Osmeña Road drew different reactions from national government and city officials on whether project contractor was responsible for the disappearance of 79 trees planted in the road’s center island.
Councilor Nida Cabrera, who first exposed the sudden removal of the trees in an April 2 privilige

speech, said she’s convinced the contractor, WT Construction Inc. (WTCI), did it.

“There were no other people or equipment there. It’s only the operator of the backhoe and the backhoe itself. Nobody can just go inside since it’s already cordoned (off). Only those working can go there. For me, I have concluded that it really is the contractor who did it,” she said.

Additional clips were shown during the closed-door viewing yesterday.

News reporters were not allowed to join the screening.

It included footage from March 29 and 30 which were earlier identified as the crucial period wherein the probable removal of the trees was made.

“I saw from the video that in March 29 the trees were still there. There were just portions which were already cleared of shrubs and bougainvilleas. I saw a clip from March 30, which was already dark and the trees were already gone,” she said.

However, there was still no clip showing the actual removal of the trees. Cabrera said the footage shown were just clips and not the entire footage. Even so, she’s convinced that the contractor removed the trees.

“It’s useless already (to view more footage) because theres nobody else working there,” she said.
The viewing was also attended by WTCI consultant and project-in-charge Engr. Adolfo Quiroga, who was named respondent together with six others in a case filed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 against the contractor.

Cabrera said Quiroga admitted that the equipment shown in the videos belong to them. The city council then asked Quiroga to submit a list of the drivers and operators involved during the time the equipment were operating during those days in question.

Councilor Dave Tumulak, who heads the City’s Command Control Center, said he is still withholding footage from the area.

“It’s also not good to give (show) all of the evidence because it might give the contractor a chance to make an alibi,” he said.

“But no matter what, I’m a hundred percent sure that they (contractor) are to blame,” he added.
Tumulak recalled a conversation with Quiroga a few days after the news of the missing trees broke out. He said Quiroga admitted that operators may have accidentally struck down the smaller trees in the center island.

On the other hand, Vice Mayor Edgar Labella said he was not satisfied with the videos shown.
“It’s nothing new. It was the same as what was shown earlier, there’s no scene of actual removal.

But the contractor has admitted that they own the trucks in the videos,” he siad.
Representatives from the DENR-7’s Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) were also not satisfied with what they saw.

“It’s basically the same with what we saw earlier and it’s not clear,” said CENRO Forest Management Services chief Raul Pasoc.

The DENR-7 was planning to have their representatives file an affidavit from what they saw in the footage after Tumulak refused to furnish them with copies of the footage. But they might not pursue this plan anymore.

“Based on the account of CENRO’s forester Raul Pasoc, the video was not clear and it was the same video recording that was shown to them last April 14. The video that was viewed focused on the pruning or trimming,” said DENR-7 spokesperson Eddie Llamedo.

“I wonder if there’s another set of video footage where councilor Tumulak was able to see or view when he was quoted after the news broke out with saying that the ‘video speaks for itself” and “WT shouldn’t dodge responsibility,’” he added.

Llamedo said they will focus on working to “make sure” that they can secure witnesses with the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI-7) in the next few days.