CASUALTY OF DEVELOPMENT A mural showing a bird perched on a tree fittingly serves as the backdrop for the stump of a decades-old tree on Quirino Avenue in Manila, that was cut down to make way for an expressway. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
It took fierce public outrage and sustained protests by environmental groups, fisherfolk groups, and organized youth for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to pause what people have described as the “massacre of trees” along Quirino Avenue in Manila.
The tree-cutting will make way for the Southern Access Link Expressway (SALEx) project that will connect to the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3. The Quirino Avenue SALEx segment will span 3.97 kilometers and feature four elevated lanes.
Over 225 trees have been felled, with the DENR permit indicating that a total of 617 trees were allowed to be cut. Only 27 trees have undergone earth-balling so far, as most of the trees cut down were sick, diseased, or too old to withstand transplantation, the DENR said.
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