DENR to rescue trees damaged by campaign materials

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said it will carry out “search and rescue” operations of trees needing immediate treatment for injuries incurred as a result of being nailed with election campaign materials.

Acting Environment Secretary Jim Sampulna said “the move is especially important as injured trees, if left unattended, are susceptible to infection and may not be able to grow properly with structural defects that make them prone to fail and fall over during typhoons.”

Sampulna’s directive was issued through a memorandum signed by DENR Undersecretary for field operations - Luzon Visayas and Environment Juan Miguel Cuna last May 17, 2022 whose office oversees DENR’s implementation of its “Oplan Baklas” (OB) in all its 16 regional offices.

In order to complete their OB accomplishment reports, Cuna likewise directed DENR regional offices through their respective regional executive directors to “conduct an inventory of trees damaged due to the election campaign and conduct possible treatments appropriate to the conditions” of the injured trees.

As of April, some 114,664 pieces of campaign materials and other paraphernalia had been taken down in DENR’s OB which has been implemented nationwide under a DENR-Comelec-DILG Joint Memorandum which calls for tearing down or confiscation of campaign materials posted outside of common poster areas designated by the Commission on Elections.

Sampulna said trees in urban areas need to be prioritized, noting that “trees in our urban areas have been decreasing through the years despite the countless benefits they give to improve the quality of life in cities, especially now that climate change is upon us.”

Of particular concern to the environment chief is the manner by which many of the trees had been cleared of the nailed posters and the likelihood that there are nails still left in the bark or trunk, which can cause long-term damage especially to young trees.

Sampulna explained, “Hammering a nail into a tree inevitably leaves a wound that exposes its insides to  bacteria and fungi and causes decay of the wood,  leading to a structurally weakened tree and can even shorten its life.”

Juvenile trees are less able to recover from these injuries and most vulnerable to these long-term damage from injuries compared to mature trees over ten years old, he added.

For his part, Raul Briz, chief of forest protection of the Forest Management Bureau, said, “Our field officers may have to revisit the trees that have been cleared of these materials to remove unpulled nails and apply a wound dressing that contains fungicide and insecticide, especially in nail holes that show signs of surface rust.”