Contractor Willing to Replace ‘Missing’ Trees

The contractor of the ongoing P289 million road concreting project along Serging Osmeña Avenue in North Reclamation Area (NRA) is willing to spend about P1.8 million to replace the Fire Trees that has been reported as illegally uprooted from the center-islands of the said road.

WT Construction Project Engineer Adolfo Quiroga had sent a letter to DPWH Regional Director Ador Canlas, saying “We have also informed the Cebu City government that we are open to replacing the trees even if we did not have a hand in their removal or cutting.”

Filemon Embalzado Jr. of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said there were only 79 trees illegally removed from the road’s center-island, but the head of the parks and playground commission said the DENR forester did not include in its inventory the small trees with three centimeter in diameter.

According to Cebu City Parks and Playground Executive Director Librando Macaraya, the species were mostly fire trees which cost at least P20,000 each.

Macaraya said that the contractor replacing the missing trees is already an indirect admission that the contractor was indeed responsible for the illegal removal of the trees.

“Replacing the trees is tantamount of admitting that they are the ones who did it,” he said. Macaraya said the original plan was to earthball the trees and to have them replanted at the Plaza Independencia and Senior Citizens Park to make the city more beautiful during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Cebu City next year.

During yesterday’s executive session of the Cebu City Council, the local lawmakers watched the CCTV footage showing the uprooting of the trees.

The WT Construction representative has been invited to attend the council’s executive session, but there were no representative of the firm present.

In a letter, Engineer Quiroga explained “We regret to inform that we are unable to attend the session for the reason that the DENR is already in the midst of an on-going investigation on the matter and is poised to file the appropriate charges before the court.”

Quiroga added that “Since the courts are the final arbiters of the guilt or innocence of our firm and its personnel, we, with all due respect, have opted to explain our side and defend ourselves in the proper tribunals where the charges would be filed.”