Save the flame trees, move them to Makati

There are 100 flame trees lining McArthur Highway in Bulacan that will have to give way to a P500 million road-widening project to ease traffic as more than 100,000 vehicles pass through the thoroughfare daily. The problem is what to do with the trees. The Department of Public Works and Highways have applied for a permit to chop down the trees from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Now, they are having a second thought – what they want is help from the DENR to relocate them. That is the most practical and logical thing to do.

May is the month when flame trees are in full bloom so they are now there in full splendor. There are many places that would be enhanced if these flame trees were transferred there. Some of them are half-a-century old. I, for one, would love to see them transferred in Makati’s two main business avenues – Ayala and Gil Puyat. What would the price be to attain this goal? Nothing, but the cost of having the trees balled so that they can be transferred to the new site. Will any Makati resident object? If anything, they will all be pleased, specially those that work or pass on those two thoroughfares. We wonder if Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay will agree with our proposal? There are other parts of the city that could also benefit by having full-grown trees and flame trees are the most beautiful trees we have when they are at bloom during summer.

In 2003, Quezon City residents banded together when Metro Manila Development Authority were about to chop down old trees along Katipunan Avenue to provide space for a proposed U-turn slot. They got a temporary restraining order. Maybe the flame trees along McArthur Highway also need a court order to prevent their extinction. The best is to offer the trees to any individual, institution or municipality that would be willing to have them balled and moved to another place of their choice. We are sure there will be many takers. There are many public places in Metro Manila that those endangered 100 flame trees could enhance. In Makati, for instance, aside from the two main commercial avenues, there is an area called Greenbelt where some of those flame trees would fit in perfectly.

We really believe that every person should plant at least one tree that will survive long after they are gone. The best place to launch such a move is in schools and the barangays. The problem, of course, is to find the suitable place.

One place we visit regularly is the Arroceros Forest Park. Manila is really privileged to have the best of the only two forest parks in Metro Manila. The second one is in Quezon City.

Aside from adding natural beauty to our environment, trees are important to our age because they absorb pollution and produce oxygen. Manila is now the second most polluted metropolis in the world. There are only two solutions to that problem. First is to minimize pollution. Second, is to reverse it by planting more trees.

All people love trees. It is not uncommon to find posters bearing Joyce Killmer’s poem Trees. More important than having poems glorifying trees is having the trees in our midst. We hope to hear from both the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on how they will resolve the question of what to do with the 100 flame trees that have to give way to a P500 million road-widening project. If we have P500 million to widen roads, surely we must have some funds to save 100 flame trees.