FR REYES RUNNING PRIEST VISIT VICE GOV MAGPALE/NOV.10,2014:Winley Dela Fuente Naga PTA tell Vice-Gov. Agnes Magpale regarding the Naga City cutting of tree during their visit with him is Fr. Robert Reyes running priest and Naga City Councilor Venci Del Mar.(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
A petition-signing drive will be launched today by pro-environment activisits calling for the resignation of Isabelo Montejo as Regional Executive Director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR-7).
The petition for Montejo’s resignation was agreed on in yesterday’s meeting between “running priest” Fr. Robert Reyes, convenors of the Movement for Livable Cebu (MLC) and Winley dela Fuente, Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) president of Naga City Central School.
“He (Montejo) promotes destruction when he keeps issuing permits to cut the trees. Those who promote destruction have two qualities — incompetence and criminal behavior. And if a person is part of (that environmental destruction) then there is betrayal and corruption,” Fr. Reyes said.
The meeting ended with the MLC agreeing to draft the ouster petition. Fr. Reyes will hold a Mass today at the site where the trees were cut in the premises of the Naga City Central School to pave the way for the planned construction of a track oval.
He, the MLC and their supporters will tie a white ribbon on each of 21 remaining trees out of 79 affected by the project.
The DENR 7 earlier issued a permit to cut 79 trees then amended it to 58 trees based on the project design.
On Friday, five concerned citizens including dela Fuente and the MLC filed a petition in the Court of Appeals to stop the tree cutting and requested for a writ of kalikasan after an initial 34 trees were felled.
The complainants said there was no prior public consultation held, and that the destruction exposes Naga residents in the lower area to more risk of flooding , especially since native species of century-old mahogany, aguho and narra were cut.
Over the weekend, however, local government workers resumed cutting all except the 21 excluded from the permit.
Naga City Councilor Venci del Mar, who also attended the meeting, accompanied Fr. Reyes and dela Fuente to the Provincial Capitol at noon.
With Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III in Manila, Fr. Reyes asked Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale to investigate the legality of the tree-cutting permits issued by the DENR to Naga City.
Magpale said she will assign Provincial Board (PB) Member Raul Alcoseba to investigate the case.
Reyes said there’s no target number of signatories for their petition but they will gather as many signatures as they can.
“I am willing to sign on the top of the petition. I will personally deliver the petition to DENR Secretary Ramon Paje in his office,” Fr. Reyes said.
Irreplaceable
Dela Fuente said they will not yet file criminal charges against those responsible for the environment protection order filed last Friday.
But he said his lawyer is studying the possibility of filing criminal charges against them.
Dela Fuente insisted that there are still other ideal areas within Naga City where a 400-meter, eight lane track and field oval can be built.
Fr. Reyes also dismissed last week’s assurances by Engr. Ma. Obdulla Lescano, City Environment and Natural Officer (CENRO) of Naga City that they will replant trees that were cut.
“Trees are irreplaceable. You do not correct a murder. Each tree being cut is one count of murder,” Fr. Reyes told Cebu Daily News.
Not included
He said in Malaysia, the death penalty is imposed on people who cut trees.
Lescano said they resumed cutting the trees after they received the amended permit last Friday.
They started at 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. last Friday and resumed the following day from morning until evening.
Lescano disagreed with Reyes’s contention that the cutting of trees in the evening was malicious and unsafe. He said they secured all the requirements and permits.
“We resumed in the evening since we received the amended permit in the afternoon,” she said.
Del Mar said the cutting of trees wasn’t included during the Naga City Council’s discussions on the track oval project.
“I am not against the project, only the cutting of trees. There was no mention the details during the session even from the committees of infrastructure and environment,” del Mar said.
But Lescano said the cutting of trees “had already been a part of the project’s plan, even in the topographic map presented” to the council.