Naga Mayor: Cut the Trees

Despite protests, Mayor Val Chiong of the City of Naga, Cebu wants to have the 13 acacia trees situated along the road to be cut to make way for road widening.

“It’s for development. And besides, these are very old trees, they could be dangerous to the public, they may fall anytime,” he said.

Chiong explained that if one would take a closer look to these trees they would find out that their trunks are already hallowed by old age. And the constant one-side pruning of the Visayan Electric Company, which resulted to the trees to lean to the highway, could lead to its collapse.

Chiong said the trees should be cut to clear the road to make way for development. He, however, assured that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will replace all these trees with tens or even hundreds of others before they will be removed.

He also said the city may offer a portion of its mountains where the DENR can grow these replacement trees.