‘SAVE PORO’S TREES’: Parishioners of the Sto. Niño de Poro Parish Church in Poro, Camotes, together with concerned citizens and residents in the town, placed banners around trees in an attempt to save them from being chopped down. The Sto. Niño de Poro Parish launched an online petition to convince the government to reconsider their decision to cut down over 700 trees for road widening efforts. | Photo courtesy of Fr. Joel Bonza
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The parish church in Poro town, Camotes Island, in northern Cebu is not giving up on its fight to save hundreds of trees from being chopped down.
The Sto. Niño de Poro Parish expanded its online petition, aimed at convincing the government not to cut down over 700 trees for road widening.
From 1,000 signatures, the parish church and concerned residents in Poro wanted to gather more—up to 2,500. As of May 16, they managed to collect 1,664 signatures.
READ MORE: Poro parish church urges gov’t: Don’t chop down our trees
The church initiated the online petition on April 10 after learning that the planned road widening projects would involve chopping down trees in five barangays.
These are the villages of Mercedes, Esperanza, Adela, San Jose, and Daan Paz.
The authors of the online petition were Fr. Joel Bonza, parish priest of the Sto. Niño de Poro Parish; Marieta Gorgonio, Zandro Zurita, Jasmine Villanueva, Vigilia Argallon, Carlotina Santic, and Nathalie Jane Rosauro.
READ MORE: Cebu lost 10,000 hectares of tree cover in the past 20 years
The Catholic church also initiated a public hearing on April 27, where they invited various stakeholders, including the national and local government, residents, and the contractors assigned to the road projects.
During the consultation, which was broadcast live on Facebook, the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (MENRO) assured that unless the project proponents had secured permits, no trees would be cut down.
In an earlier interview with CDN Digital, Bonza said that some of the trees marked to be torn down included centuries-old ones like lomboy, acacia, and bangkal.
Parishioners learned about the plans to chop down trees to make way for road widening projects in Poro last January. This prompted them to initiate a signature campaign and even a prayer rally in hopes of sparing the trees.
They also placed banners and posters with words such as “Save Mother Earth” and “These trees are older than you” on the affected trees.
“Trees are indispensable for our ecosystem…We need sustainable, well balance environment not just in the name of economic progress at the expense of the environment,” portions of the online petition read.