The regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-7) wants to tap two forest pathology experts to assess the condition of trees in southern Cebu.
Dr. Ernesto Militante, a retired forest pathologist and Mutya Manalo, a professor at the College of Forestry and Natural Resources of University of the Philippines-Los Banos campus were recommended by the DENR Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau.
“Rest assured that their expertise will aid in your goal to come up with a comprehensive and unbiased evaluation. They will submit their detailed curriculum vitae for your perusal,” said a memorandum addressed to DENR-7 Regional Executive Director Isabelo Montejo.
DENR-7 spokesman Eddie Llamedo said they will inform the Movement for a Livable Cebu (MLC), the Philippine Earth Justice Center (PEJC) and the Cebu provincial government on the endorsement this week.
“We will have to choose only one tree pathologist to invite. We will call a meeting with MLC, PEJC and the Capitol,” Llamedo said.
Third round
The tree pathologist’s assessment of “diseased and defective” roadside trees along the City of Naga, San Fernando town and Carcar City, will mark the third round of assessment on the trees’ health.
The first one was done by foresters of DENR-7 who recommended the cutting of close to a hundred roadside trees.
Impasse
Environmental groups then commissioned Dr. Roger Guzman, a silviculturist or a forester who is concerned with the cultivation of trees, to conduct a third-party assessment.
He said none of the trees were sick and old enough to be cut and that interventions could be made like pruning and tree surgery. He noted that “most severed and defective trees marked by DENR staff can still be sustained with low risk to motorists and pedestrians in terms of sudden fall.”
But the DENR-7 questioned Guzman’s rapid appraisal made August 13 to 15.
To break the impasse, the DENR-7 and local environment groups agreed to have another round of assessment, this time to be done by a tree pathologist.
Llamedo said it was also agreed that the Cebu Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) would shoulder the airfare and accommodation of the expert. He said the pathologist may conduct the assessment by next month.
“We will endorse the results of the tree pathologist’s assessment to our central office for action,” Llamedo said.
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