BAGUIO CITY – The City Council, during last Monday’s regular session, urged the city’s 128 barangays, together with the City Engineering Office (CEO), the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO), the Cordillera offices of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-CAR) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-CAR), to inspect all trees in their respective jurisdiction and identify those that pose danger and to take appropriate actions to prevent the occurrence of future accidents.
Under Resolution No. 363, series of 2020, signed by Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong, city legislators claimed the barangay officials, together with the assistance of the local and national agencies, should inspect all trees within the city to establish their balance and firmness to anticipate the occurrence of events that will pose a serious threat to life and limb.
The council stated the onset of the rainy season creates a plethora of challenges for the city government such as landslides, subsidence, flooding, and the like.
According to the council, among the aforesaid challenges is the danger caused by uprooted trees or falling branches, thus, the need for barangay officials to report the presence of trees that pose a serious threat to life and limb located in their areas of jurisdiction so that concerned local and national agencies could take action on the same.
The council added that the State, through the local government units, is tasked with the protection of its citizens and the protection of the general welfare where barangays, being the smallest political subdivision in the bureaucracy, should take proactive measures to prevent life and limb from being compromised.
Aside from posing danger to people, untrimmed trees are often the cause of unscheduled power interruptions in the city as they can lean on electric posts or wires and cause the power distribution system to trip off.
Further, fallen trees also impede the smooth flow of traffic along city, national and barangay roads apart from blocking the smooth flow of different waterways of the city that often cause unnecessary soil erosion or landslide incidents.
The council stipulated that barangays, in close coordination with concerned local and national agencies, should already take the lead in taking the appropriate actions on the trees that pose danger to life and limb the soonest to prevent incidents that may transpire in the course of time that will again lead to finger pointing on who is to blame in such instances.
The council raised the common observation that there are numerous trees in the different barangays that seem to pose danger to life and limb, especially with the onset of the rainy season, thus, immediate action is needed from barangay officials to ensure their constituents are safe during heavy rains and strong winds and typhoons.
The council also reminded residents who have trees in their private properties to make sure that those that pose danger to life and limb will be trimmed or cut the soonest before heavy rains will start to prevail in the city. By Dexter A. See
