City to show probers video of trees removal

CEBU, Philippines - While it will not turn over materials to investigators sans a court order, the Cebu City government will allow viewing of the videos that may have captured the removal of the 88 indigenous trees from the Sergio Osmeña Boulevard.

“Pwede motan-aw pero dili nila pwede pangayuon. Kini aron makasabot sila unsa atong tumong sa pagprotehir sa CCTV footages. We just want to preserve the evidence and not to publicly divulge the place where we installed the camera for the security of the entire city,” said Councilor Dave Tumulak, head of the City Command Center.

Representatives of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Public Works and Highways, the city legal office, as well as other city officials will view the footages from the Closed Circuit Television cameras on Monday during the Council’s special session.

It was alleged that personnel of WT Construction Inc. removed the 88 indigenous trees from the center island of Sergio Osmeña Boulevard without permission from CENRO-DENR and from the City Parks and Playground Commission.

The Sergio Osmeña Boulevard is undergoing repair at present.

“We will watch the video as offered by the Cebu City government Monday next week,” said DENR-7 spokesperson Eddie Llamedo.

DENR-7 recently asked the city to provide them a copy of the recordings to substantiate the case that will be filed against the personnel of WT Construction Inc., but Tumulak said the city is still awaiting the court to order for the release of the footages.

In a statement, lawyer Gloria Estenzo Ramos of the Philippine Earth Justice Center, Inc. said the act of the government not to release the footages “can be construed as an obstruction of justice and giving unfavorable treatment to the possible offending party.”

“As the tree massacre happened in the jurisdiction of the city, the city government is in fact duty-bound to prosecute the offenders and not leave the matter solely to the DENR. Surely, our environmental rights mater and so do the trees and the biodiversity they harbor and the services they provide us, but which are largely taken for granted,” she said.

Mayor Michael Rama has assured that the footages will be released “at the proper time.”

Based on the footages shown to the media yesterday, the trees were still in the center island at 4:01 p.m. on March 25 but have disappeared at 6:00 a.m. the following day.

Based on the recordings last March 26, the trees were not earth-balled but rather backhoed, their branches chopped off into pieces.

Earth-balling is a process of removing or extracting a tree carefully by including the soil around it and transplanting it to ensure its continued growth.

Also, the footages show the heavy equipment of the WT Construction, including the backhoe, roller trucks and dump trucks at the site.

Tumulak said the color blue and white dump trucks, the latter with plate number GEY 540, carries the chopped trees that headed north. The trucks were covered with tarpaulin but the branches could still be seen.

“Dili gyud sila maka-deny kay gi-check nako ang plate number (Land Transportation Office) and confirmed WT ang tag-iya,” Tumulak said.

“The same trucks were seen on the area from March 25-26. So, Tug-an na mo ug ayaw na mo pamakak,” he added.

The councilor was referring to Engr. Adolfo Quiroga, WT consultant, who denied the allegations of the city government. — Kristine B. Quintas/Judie Dinopol, CNU Masscom Intern (FREEMAN)