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GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 26 March) — The city government is developing a master plan for greening or tree planting initiatives that would complement the continuing development expansions in parts of the city.
Dozens of trees along the highway in Barangay Apopong, General Santos City with their upper parts cut, as photographed in October 2024. Reports said the trees will ultimately be cut down to give way to a highway expansion project. MindaNews file photo by ROMMEL REBOLLIDOAllan Marcilla, City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) head, said they are currently working with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the City Engineer’s Office (CEO) to finalize the details of the master plan.
He said the tree planting master plan will mainly establish areas or sites that would be the focus of greening activities, especially along the roads and highways within the city.
Marcilla said they are in the process of determining the scope of the planned road construction, improvement, expansion and other related developments.
“We will come up with guidelines along with the DPWH and CEO so we will know later on where we can conduct our tree planting activities,” he said at the question hour during the city council’s regular session on Tuesday.
Marcilla disclosed the move as he sought the council’s guidance on requests for endorsement from the city government regarding the DPWH’s plans to cut anew some trees within their identified project sites.
An endorsement from the local government is needed before the Department of Environment and Natural Resources issues tree cutting permits, he said.
DPWH Region XII and the district office here requested for the cutting of more than 160 trees for the construction and improvement of portions of the Digos-Makar road in Barangays Katangawan, Tinagacan and Batomelong; construction and improvement of the access road in Abedin Street, Barangay Buayan; and the construction, upgrading and rehabilitation of drainage along Makar-Kiamba road.
These would affect fully grown and mature trees such as narra, neem, bagras and mahogany. It includes the huge mahogany trees planted beside the national highway outside the Katangawan National High School.
Vice Mayor Rosalita Nuñez expressed concern over the DPWH’s plans to cut more trees, noting that they may be spared through proper development planning.
“There’s something wrong there because it takes years for a tree to grow,” the official said.
She pointed out that in Europe, the direction of some roads were deliberately altered just to spare the trees.
She said DPWH and development planners should identify early on the extent of their road projects, including planned expansions or widening and construction of canals, “so the trees that we plant would not be affected.”
City Councilor Elizabeth Bagonoc said the problem could have been addressed properly if the city had a tree planting master plan.
“That could have been a part of it, a solution to a problem that all of us are facing,” she said, citing that the city even needs more trees to counter the area’s rising heat index.
Bagonoc said the city can learn from the experiences of other places like in Europe and Singapore where greening is integrated with development.
Marcilla assured that his office is continually working with the DPWH to ensure that planned developments would complement the city’s greening initiatives.
He said they proposed to the DPWH to save the remaining trees in the future development of the national highway, specifically along portions of Barangays Apopong and Sinawal.
The plan features the integration of a bike lane, pedestrian lane and greening with the road expansion, he said.
“What we want to do is to avoid the cutting of trees in the future,” Marcilla said. (Allen V. Estabillo / MindaNews)
