Mountaineer climbs Naga tree; all cutting suspended

Cutting of trees in Naga City has been suspended.

No more chainsaws for now.

For three hours, mountain climber Dondon Dimpas sat on a huge branch of a century-old Acacia tree, where he hoisted himself up with a rope, on Thursday night.

His peaceful protest frustrated a crew of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) who called off their operation past 10 p.m. to cut down the last of three ailing trees marked for removal in barangay Inoburan, Naga City.

By doing the unexpected climb, Dimpas, a member of the Inter Mountaineering Society in Cebu, and another Naga resident who clambered up another tree bought time for government officials to meet in the Capitol yesterday to confirm that tree cutting in Naga city, San Fernando town and Carcar city in south Cebu were on hold.

“At around 11 a.m., I was called by (Environment Secretary Ramon) Paje to deny requests of the DPWH for the cutting and removal of trees along San Fernando to Carcar city,” said DENR 7 Regional Executive Director Isabelo Montejo.

Gov. Hilario Davide III, who called the meeting, agreed to abide by the agreement of both national agencies to conduct another assessment of roadside trees to see if the 84 initially identified as in immediate risk of toppling could still be preserved.

Four other trees in Naga were chopped down last Tuesday and Wednesday by the DPWH.
This time, the inventory will be a joint effort with the private sector.

“God forbid if another tree falls. Let’s hope and pray there will be none. There should be a quick response so that we won’t have problems in traffic and safety of the people,” Davide pointed out.

No one in the meeting asked who would be held responsible if another tree suddenly collapses, like the two Acacias that fell on the road in Carcar and San Fernando in the past month.

Aside from halting the cutting, DENR which conducted the earlier “rushed” inspection, agreed to conduct a reassessment with a third party.

Montejo admitted that while their foresters are experts, there may be differences in opinions and judgment.

“Although we have the same technical strategies and parameters, our technical decisions and judgment may differ. After evaluation, we can compare notes,” Montejo said.

The Philippine Earth Justice Center (PEJC) earlier asked to conduct its own assessment as they doubted that all of the 84 trees in Naga and San Fernando earlier listed by the DENR are that sick or diseased to require cutting down.

PEJC managing trustee Rose Liza Osorio, in the meeting, said their expert forester will arrive in Cebu next week to partner with the DENR – Dr. Roger De Guzman, executive director of the Philippine Federation for Environmental Concern.

“We will do the assessment and evaluation of the trees together. We’ll evaluate if there should be corrective measures like rehabilitation or pruning of the trees. If there are trees that really need to be cut, we need a third party assessment,” Osorio explained.

Convenors of the Movement for a Livable Cebu (MLC), who supported the tree climbers in Naga, welcomed the second look.

“This is a positive development. We’re happy that the government has listened to us,” said MLC convenor Louella Alix.

Alix took out her cellphone to show the governor images of some of the towering trees in Naga the night before.

“Do these trees look sick enough to be cut down?” she asked.

The governor said he couldn’t tell and that he would wait for the experts to say.

HOISTED UP

Last Thursday evening, Dimpas and a companion hung a rope around one of the branches of an Acacia tree about 30 feet high.

Dimpas went farther up the tree and sat on one of its huge branches, ignoring two men with a roaring chainsaw right beside him.

The cutters from the DPWH couldn’t continue with Dimpas leaning against a tree branch. He sat there quietly as two Naga city policemen below tried to persuade him to get down.

The crew brought down their equipment and switched off the lights. Dimpas remained out on a limb in the dark.

Lito Labore, a barangay resident with a flashing headlamp, also climbed up but a tree but it had no branches left to hoist him up with a rope.

He rested one foot atop a sari-sari store nearby and pushed himself up. He held out a copy of the marginal note written by DPWH Secretary Singson written beside a photo of Carcar trees taken by CDN photo editor Tonee Despojo published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer the day before.

“This marginal note was served yesterday! Why aren’t you stopping (the cutting)?” shouted Labore as onlookers watched him from below.

At the top of his lungs, Labore repeated the words until his face turned red. Passersby would look up for a while, appearing to listen but then just walk away.

By 9:40 p.m., Naga City Councilor Carmelino Cruz Jr., Cebu 2nd District Engr. Nicomedes Leonor, DENR Forester Filemon Embalzado and Naga City Police Chief Brendo Nacario huddled to discuss what to do.

The highway was opened to traffic a few minutes before 10 p.m.

Jeepneys, buses and private vehicles filled the street again but both climbers stayed put.

“I will only come down if we have solid commitment from the DPWH (that cutting will stop),” said Dimpas. Labore said he was ready to stay there till the morning.

Then five armed SWAT members arrived. They stood on the sidewalk observing the protestors, perhaps waiting for the right time to intervene.

They gathered around the base of the tree where Dimpas climbed up.

Rudy Alix, MLC convenor, approached and asked the SWAT members to go easy on the civilian protestors.

The SWAT team eventually spread out back on the sidewalk. Naga Councilor Cruz decided to call off the operation.

“It would be best to abort operations for now. We can’t sacrifice the safety of the climbers,” he said.

Cruz said that the police were exercising maximum tolerance last night.

“This was unexpected. We thought these groups were already consulted about the matter,” he said.

Other MLC members tried to reach DPWH Regional Director Ador Canlas for the final word.

After a flurry of calls to other officials, Canlas finally replied in a text message: “The cutting is called off.”

After seeing the go-signal from MLC friends, the two men on the tree climbed down. It took them an hour to descend while SWAT members waited below.

Naga City Police Chief Nacario said the protestors were courting a criminal case of alarm and scandal but no charges were filed for lack of a complaint.

Dimpas and Labore were escorted away to safety by MLC members.

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