CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon said he is opposed to the request of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to cut trees to make way for the road-widening project along N. Bacalso Avenue.
Instead, Dizon proposed incorporating tree preservation in the road design.
This road-widening project will affect a total of 122 trees that will be subjected to tree-cutting and earthballing.
“If the current city administration is indeed serious in its environmental drive to plant three million trees in the next three years, then it should not approve DPWH’s request to cut the trees to pave way for its road-widening project,” Dizon said.
For this project, DPWH plans to earthball and transfer 119 trees to other parks and open spaces in the city.
“And tree transfer --can they render a report of the survival rate and where the replacement/replanted trees are?” Dizon said.
Dizon also suggested working around nature in these road projects, saying that project designers should exhaust all means to avoid negative impact on the environment.
“In tree replacement, per every tree cut will be replaced with 100 trees,” he further suggested.
According to Dizon, the Cebu City Council has declared a climate emergency during its regular session last October 15, 2019 as an urgent response to the environmental disasters the city is experiencing.
“With this declaration, the city commits to the health and well-being for all people and protects the right of the environment and future generations,” he said.
Dizon’s statement was in response to the one made by Councilor Jerry Guardo, chairman of the City Council’s committee on infrastructure, who said that this road-widening project of DPWH would really help ease the traffic along N. Bacalso Avenue. BRP (FREEMAN)