Is a road more important than a tree?

Suky is a very dear friend. We share the same passion for the environment. Though we went to the same school, Assumption — me at San Lorenzo and her a year before at Herran — interestingly, our paths never met until 2007. We met not even in the Philippines, but in Monaco, where I was supposed to receive a donation for Bantay Bata.

Suky is such an environmentalist. She feels pain when any tree is cut. Her constant complaint is about the road-widening projects currently being done — at the cost of cutting hundred-year-old trees. “Why?” Suky says. “Why is the road more important than the tree?” To her, a tree is so much more important than any road. This is the data she sent me from the website called Tree People (www.treepeople.org):
Top 22 benefits of trees

1. Trees combat the greenhouse effect.

2. Trees clean the air.

3. Trees provide oxygen.

4. Trees cool the streets and the city.

5. Trees conserve energy.

6. Trees save water.

7. Trees help prevent water pollution.

8. Trees help prevent soil erosion.

9. Trees shield children from ultraviolet rays by about 50 percent!

10. Trees provide food.

11. Trees heal. Patients with trees in view outside their window have been found to heal faster and with much less complications.

12. Trees reduce violence. Really. It has been found that houses with no nearby trees tend to have more violence. Houses with green landscape also tend to have more harmony.

13. Trees mark the seasons.

14. Trees create economic opportunities.

15. Trees are teachers and playmates.

16. Trees bring diverse groups of people together. Tree-planting sessions are excellent opportunities for bonding and community involvement.

17. Trees add unity. Trees as landmarks can give a neighborhood a new identity. I grew up in Forbes Park, a Class A subdivision. My childhood is filled with memories of biking peacefully along the road. I was so happy. It was like a bubble. When I look back at it now, what makes Forbes Park so special is the trees! There are huge narra and molave and hardwood trees that outline both sides of the streets. It makes one’s spirit feel at home. This is why in all my community projects my insistence is to make it like Forbes Park. I had such a happy childhood there.

18. Trees provide a canopy and habitat for wildlife.

19. Trees provide aesthetics to an otherwise cement jungle.

20. Trees provide wood.

21. Trees increase property values.

22. Trees increase business traffic. Business districts tend to have more trees and seem to create an appealing environment for business.

Visit the website to read the full explanation of each benefit.

A study from the University of Calcutta showed that a 50-year-old tree has a monetary value of $193,250. That is approximately P9 million. Here is the breakdown:

$62,000 (P3 million) - oxygen and air and soil pollution control

$37,500 (P1.8 million) - water

$31,250 (P1.5 million)- organic fertilizer

$31,200 (P1.5 million) - recycles

$31,250 (P1.5 million) - habitat

And this is just the value of one old tree!

When nature is not given due importance — to Suky, this hurts a lot! Just seeing the garden in my house makes her happy. Pollution makes her sick. Trees eat up pollution, and nourish us physically and spiritually. There is so much pollution in Metro Manila that we can’t afford to cut down a single tree. In fact we should add more trees and green up the city, so people can stay healthy.
But the line that must never be crossed is the tree in front of her house in New Manila. She has lived there for decades. She grew up there. There is a mango tree in front of her house. It’s been there ever since she can remember. She even has a name for it — Sophia, after the daughter of her councilor friend who tried to protect the tree too.

Last month, however, there was a threat to Suky’s tree. The barangay captain presented a permit for the tree to be cut despite objections from the residents. The barangay captain reasoned that since there was a permit to cut it, it must go. Suky argues that, without the permission of the residents directly involved, it is illegal to cut the tree. So now Suky is suing the barangay captain because she means business.
During lunch she shared her feelings. “It’s not just my tree. It’s the consciousness that exists. Why is nature at the bottom of the totem pole?” Her neighbor, who wanted the tree removed, could have easily moved his driveway. “For heaven’s sake, why did he build his driveway in front of a tree?” she asked. That’s so impractical. And now he wants to cut Sophia — Suky’s tree. “No way, Jose!” the “warrior” in Suky exclaims.

Anyway, it’s illegal. One cannot cut trees without getting the permission of all the people directly involved. That is the law. Thank God! When I talked to DENR Secretary Mon Paje, he agreed that the tree should not be cut. God bless him.
So to all the tree cutters out there know that there is one line that must never be crossed: Suky’s tree. You will wound a human being so deeply and you really don’t want to do that in your lifetime.

If you want to talk to Suky you can reach her at jagscor@gmail.com. If you want to join forces with her because you have an endangered tree in your area, send her an email. You can join her in a movement for trees. If you can match her passion, then together with her you will all be a force to reckon with. If there are enough of you, you might just succeed in saving all the hundred-year-old trees in Metro Manila that are in danger of being cut due to the push for road widening.

When we put up the La Mesa Eco Park, we made the developments around trees. If the trees were sick, we would strengthen them with “tree surgery,” wherein you put cement inside the tree and it grows up sturdy again, much like putting a stent in deteriorating joints.
When I read Suky the article, we both cracked up but underneath all the teasing and the mirth, there is a serious message.
She pointed out, “A tree can live without humans, but humans need the benefits that trees give.”

* * *

I can be reached at regina_lopez@abs-cbn.com.