3 ad firm workers cut down 11 balete trees

MANILA, Philippines - Three employees of an outdoor advertising company were arrested Monday after they were caught cutting down 11 balete trees planted along EDSA’s center island in Balintawak, Quezon City.

Stellent Media Solutions Inc. employees Roberto Aragon, 45; Ian Jay Villegas, 18; and Rhanne Cruz, 40, were presented to Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Francis Tolentino yesterday.

The three men admitted cutting down the trees as these blocked the view of a billboard structure where they were supposed to put up an advertising tarpaulin. They said they were paid P500 each day to put up billboard tarpaulins along EDSA. Police said the men used jungle bolos to cut down the trees.

MMDA legal services chief Rochelle Macapili-Ona said the three men will be charged with malicious mischief at the Quezon City prosecutor’s office.

Ona added that the three men could be charged with violating Presidential Decree 705 or the Forestry Reform Code that prohibits the cutting of trees without permission from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Tolentino instructed Ona to include the billboard company in the charges.