Encore: Tree planting    

For a good part of March and April, this year, we experienced cloudless skies and sunny days. We walked with umbrellas protecting us from the sun. The air was hot and humid. At home, we had to turn the air-conditioning or the electric fan on. Forty-three degrees, an unusually and extremely high temperature, became our usual heat index for many days.

Each of the last three Saturdays that I visited my small property in Barangay Paril, I felt affected by a developing eerie scene. The river which my land abutted, once gushing with waters, was reduced to trickles. In fact, great portions of its bed was exposed. For the first time, I had to ration the water from the open wells I dug to help supply my neighbors with their needs. Green grass withered and turned brown. Some visible agricultural lands in the mountain barangays nearby became so parched and cracked that I use the word “cakey” that a photojournalist used to describe the botched make-up of a famous movie personality. Only the trees I planted seemed to survive. Yes, the environment in my small garden was (as it still is) a lot cooler.

I happened to read an agenda of the Cebu City Council few weeks ago. There were many proposed resolutions filed that attracted my attention. I had to read as carefully such measures as when I was still part of the council decades ago. What I learned disheartened me. Such measures would either directly allow the cutting of trees or offer no objection to such removal of trees. Personally, I couldn’t accept the reasons offered. Public interest lost its premium. The justifications, however beautifully crafted, were in legalese language that couldn’t hide the real selfish intention.

In contrast, the singular voice of Sir Leo Lastimosa, in his podcast “Baruganan”, sounded more profound. After noticing the resurgence of searing heat that followed the exit of a Low Pressure Area, he broadcast beneficial effects of the flora in his surroundings. He observed that trees growing in his neighborhood provided sanctuary to remaining wildlife. More importantly, vegetation made his environment a lot cooler compared to some areas as reported by his listeners. Then, he suggested the council legislate tree planting.

Sir Leo’s broadcast made me smile. I remember that in my stint in the council, I drafted quite a long piece of a proposed ordinance that required owners of private land to plant trees along their boundaries. Such plantation would achieve a perceived double effect of preventing land disputes. Of course, there was written in the proposed ordinance an administrative provision requiring the reporting of the planting. It also employed a reward to encourage land owners to heed the program. I wrote a percentage reduction of the payable real estate tax as incentive to be enjoyed by the planters on the fourth year of the survival of the trees planted. Why only on the fourth year? That was needed to make sure that the planter would take care of his plants to survive the critical first three years.

Unfortunately, that proposed ordinance didn’t find the support of the political majority in my time. Having then filed my certificate of candidacy as an independent candidate, I didn’t enjoy the coddling of the big political parties in the city. Had it been passed and approved as a city ordinance, we might have today enjoyed the comfort that Sir Leo discussed. Since our political leaders in Mayor Michael Rama and Vice Mayor Raymond Garcia consistently announced that they are more public servants than politicians, they may dig the records of the council, retrieve the measure I drafted and re-write it to conform to the present environmental needs. However it may be reworded, I am certain that it can approximate the idea of my favorite broadcaster.