DPWH told: Show trees’ location

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-7 yesterday required the Department of Public Works and Highways to update it on the status of almost 40 “earth-balled” trees affected by the Mambaling flyover road widening project.

This was decided upon to strengthen monitoring of trees so as to prevent more trees from falling victims to road rehabilitation works and going “missing.”

In a one-page letter addressed to DPWH-7 Regional Director Ador Canlas, DENR-7 Regional Executive Director Isabelo Montejo asked for a report on the Mambaling trees.

“(W)e ask the DPWH 7 to submit to us a compliance report on the full accounting on the trees that were affected by the road widening, and on pertinent conditions or provisions on the November 21, 2013 clearance issued by DENR Undersecretary Ignacio Jr.,” Montejo said.

Canlas’s office was required to submit the report with accompanying complete photos of the transferred trees as well as their exact locations so an inspecting team by DENR and the Cebu City Parks and Playground Commission would be able to find them.

DENR-7 Spokesperson Eddie Llamedo clarified that no complaint or untoward report was submitted to their office, which public might think to have triggered the order.

He said Montejo’s letter was part of their effort to strengthen DENR’s mandate of monitoring public works that affect trees. Llamedo said they wanted for the publc to be aware that DENR-7 is serious in addressing the series of concerns on trees illegal cut and removed.

DENR, Llamedo said, also wished to check if DPWH complied with the required planting of 100 indigenous trees as replacement for a mango tree.

In a separate interview, DPWH-7 Spokesperson Marie Mignon Nillama yesterday told The FREEMAN that they would respond to the DENR’s letter Monday.

She, however, said that some of the earth-balled trees Montejo referred to were planted inside the DPWH-7 compound at the SRP.

“Tinood naay gi-earthball (Earth-balling happened) but it was done together with (the) parks and playground (commission). Sila ang nahibalo asa gibutang. Dunay mga kahoy nga gi-earthball gikan sa Mambaling nga naa sa atubangan sa among opisina (The commission would know where the trees are. There are those that were earth-balled in Mambaling that are planted in front of our office). Dili lang sure kung mahogany ba to or narra ,” Nillama said.

Based on the application DPWH-7 filed, the road widening project due to the construction of the Mambaling flyover displaced 39 trees, particularly one mango, eight mahogany, and 30 narra trees.

DENR issued a special permit last Feb. 28, giving approval for the cutting of the mango tree, which was found infected, as well as the earth-balling of the narra and mahogany trees.

Ignacio and the DENR Central Office, though, set 12 conditions as well as the securing of a special cutting and earth-balling permit. — Jessa J. Agua/RHM

Power supply remains shaky

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines yesterday admitted the power supply in Cebu is not yet normal but assured that there is additional power source coming from Luzon.

“We are not yet back to normal. We have extra supply but it does not cover tripping of a big unit. As much as possible we have to have more supply,” said Abner Bardoquillo of the NGCP in a consultation meeting with Governor Hilario Davide III and the power sector representatives at the Capitol yesterday.

Davide called the meeting following a series of brownouts in the province.

Bardoquillo said yesterday there was 575 megawatts available power from the Cebu Energy Development Corp. and Salcon Power Corp. but the expected demand was 860 MW. He said there was a 300 MW balance, which meant there was “insufficient supply for Cebu province.”

But Bardoquillo said they are expecting to get a back-up power from Luzon, after its operation has normalized. Also, Dennis Verallo of the Visayan Electric Company said a unit in CEDC’s power plant in Toledo City, which tripped off the past days, was expected to fire up last night.

He said Panay Energy Development Corp’s unit is also expected to fire up today and the need for power will be fully addressed.

Joel Bontuyan of the Energy Regulatory Commission offered that the Interruptible Load Program will be fully implemented in the whole province.

He said the program was approved by the ERC in 2009 but it has only been implemented by the Lapu-Lapu City government by requiring the big businesses in its area to not only be dependent on the power supply but also use their generator sets. He said the highest peak of generation this program has come so far is 30 MW.

For his part, Davide said there is “no cause for alarm” as according to the power sector representatives there is enough power supply “at the moment.

“Ang ato lang sab hangyo nila, conserve energy. Hinay-hinayan gamit sa appliances,” he said. He also appealed to the big consumers to use their generator sets like what the ILP has suggested.

Davide said he will ask the president of League of Mayors of the Philippines to present in their meeting with mayors to invite ERC and himself to talk about the ILP.

The governor told the power sector representatives that yesterday was just a start of their many meetings, as he said he plans to have a series of those to discuss long-term plans for Cebu’s stable power supply.

After a week of having power supply shortage, the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid had a very slim reserve of 4mw yesterday.

Data available on the website of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines yesterday showed that for the CNP or Visayas grid, the system peak reaches to 1,532 MW while the system capacity is 1,536 MW or a surplus of about 4 MW.

The other day, the power deficiency was negative 40 MW.

Since Friday last week to Thursday this week, except Saturday and Sunday, the Visayas grid incurred a power shortage as high as negative 97 MW.

Antonio Labios, regional director of the Department of Energy-7, said he will have updates of the two power plants today.

In a statement, CEDC said their Unit 1 firing was completed 2:05 yesterday afternoon and since it usually takes up to 10 hours from firing to synchronization, the unit was expected to be back online last midnight.  —/JMD (FREEMAN)