Cutting of 54 pine trees in Baguio, big blow to re-greening plan

June 28, 2020 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Benjamin Magalong on Thursday said the cutting of 54 pine trees in Outlook Drive village here is a big blow to the city’s re-greening master plan.
“We are saddened because we feel it is a big blow to our Re-greening Master Plan amid our request to the Office of the President for a tree-cutting moratorium,” he said in a statement.
He said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) issued Permit No. SPLTP No. CAR-58-2020 on May 4, 2020 to Vista Residences Inc. for cutting of 53 Benguet pine and a Norfolk pine at Purok 3 Outlook Drive.
The tree cutting will pave the way for a building construction project. “While the proposed moratorium has been taken over by this health crisis, we need to follow this up to ensure that our remaining trees will be preserved,” Magalong said.
DENR-CAR records showed that the property owner applied for a special private land timber permit in 2018. It went through the lengthy process and complied with all the requirements including the Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC), barangay certificate, and mayor’s clearance which can only be issued after ample investigations and public consultations.
The ECC was issued in 2017, barangay clearance on Sept. 11, 2018 and mayor’s clearance on Oct. 1, 2018. Records showed that the company was required to redesign the original plan to reduce the number of trees to be affected.
The owner also complied with the compensatory requirement of 100 tree seedlings to each tree felled. In a meeting with the DENR-CAR executives led by regional executive director Ralph Pablo and the property owner on Thursday, Magalong asked the owner represented by Ferdinand Salcedo to double the replacement to 200 per downed tree to which the representative agreed.
(PNA)