BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
A resolution requesting Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia, through the City Legal Office, for updates about the investigation on the cutting of trees along the old city airport, was approved by the Sangguniang Panlungsod Wednesday.
Authored by Councilor Carlos Jose Lopez, chairman of the SP Committee on Environment, the resolution said that on April 14, Leonardia issued Executive Order No. 19 creating a committee to investigate the cutting of trees by the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Lopez said the investigating committee is chaired by City Legal Officer Joselito Bayatan.
He said that in April, 26 trees were cut by the DPWH purportedly to give way to the rehabilitation of the sidewalk through the construction of a footwalk.
Leonardia earlier said the City of Bacolod has long treasured the mahogany, acacia, and rubber trees along Araneta Street in Barangay Singcang-Airport.
Considering its environmental impact, Leonardia also said that there was a need to institute measures to avoid the unnecessary cutting of trees in the future.
The city must determine whether the procedures for the grant of permit in the cutting of trees require additional safeguards and if further consultations should be made before it is issued. The committee members include Colonel Manuel Placido, director of the Bacolod City Police Office, SP Secretary Vicente Petierre III, acting city engineer Alido Agbones, Environment and Natural Resources officer-in-charge Nelson Sedillo, and CLO Enforcement Unit lawyer Reuben Mikhail Sabig.*
