The Cebu City government has not yet filed an application for earth-balling with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to transfer 11 trees on Pope John Paul II Ave. in preparation for the 51st International Eucharistic Congress.
“The citystill has to secure a clearance from barangay Mabolo and Kasambagan since the trees are in between the two barangays,” said Cebu City Councilor Nida Cabrera.
Pope John Paul II Avenue is one of the few tree-lined streets left in Cebu City. Mayor Michael Rama wants to remove some trees and the center island to ensure smooth traffic during the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) in January.
Cabrera said barangay officials were not in favor of Mayor Michael Rama’s proposal to remove the trees.
“Even the Archdiocese does not favor the idea. They only abide by the mayor’s plan because they want to ensure the success of the IEC,” said Cabrera.
A barangay clearance is among the requirements to support an application to cut, remove or earth-ball trees.
Once the application is filed with the DENR, forester Felomino Embalsado said the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office will conduct an inventory, geo-tagging the trees to be earth-balled and classifying these as non-premium or premium trees.
After that, the DENR will submit the application to its main office in Manila before a certificate of approval is issued.
Trees classified as premium are Molave, Narra, Tindalo, Lanete and Teak, among others, while non-premium include Gmelina, Mahogany, Acacia, fruit trees and Ipil-ipil.
Embalsado said the city should hasten its application since the IEC will be held in late January.
He said they have called the city government’s attention on this but have received no response.
The DENR 7 has a new web-based application system which was launched on November 2. This online system reduces the processing time to less than a month.
“As of now, we are patiently waiting for their application, and if they will not comply soon, there is a a possibility that the trees will not be earth-balled,” Embalsado said.