DepEd orders schools to remove unsafe trees

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Education in Central Visayas has issued a directive requiring schools to remove hazardous trees within their campuses.

In a radio interview, DepEd regional director Carmelita Dulangon said this was decided to avoid the unfortunate falling of trees which may potentially put risk to students and teachers.

Dulangon’s directive has already been disseminated to division schools superintendents in the entire Central Visayas, telling them to secure special tree cutting permits from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-7.

DENR-7 spokesperson Eddie Llamedo, for his part, said the agency is willing to assist DepEd, especially as this concerns the safety of students.

“As of the moment, our agency has not received any request from them. But it will go through the same process as cutting trees along the road. An assessment will be done on the condition of the trees; a tree inventory will be done,” Llamedo told The FREEMAN.

“Also, certifications from the school principal, barangay and local government unit chiefs have to be obtained to prove they do not object to the cutting of the defective tree,” he added.

While per school request will be accommodated and assisted, Llamedo said speedier action will be done for “institutional request” from the office of Dulangon, enumerating the schools and identifying trees of concern based on initial assessment by school officials.

“The initial list from the regional office of DepEd will be the basis of the tree assessment and inventory of our foresters. This way, we can prioritize the (ones in) most dangerous condition,” Llamedo said.

The special tree cutting permit applications will then be forwarded to Central Office for approval as the regional offices are not authorized to issue such permits.

Dulangon recalled an instance when she was still the division superintendent of Talisay City where two students were hospitalized after an old tree fell and hit them.

She added she did not want the same to happen again, which is why she has ordered the clearing of defective and hazardous trees in schools.

Meanwhile, DENR-7 executive director Isabelo Montejo yesterday maintained that the foresters at the Central Visayas office are equipped and have undergone proper trainings on tree assessment and surgery.

“Our technical experts are trained. We stand by the notion that our experts are enough. But we are thankful to them (environmentalists) that they wanted to know more. But if there will be people who will collaborate with us, we welcome them,” Montejo said.

This after the assessment and diagnosis on the trees lined up at the roadside in southern Cebu from Naga City to Carcar City are now basically back to square one. —/JMD (FREEMAN)