Cebu is one of the most naturally beautiful islands in the Philippines. Cebu plays host to many species of Bird and wildlife not to mention the abundance of life in the surrounding Oceans and Mangroves in Cebu. For the past few years a battle has been raging between the DPWH and the people of Carcar and Naga city, The reason? DPWH wants to cut down century old trees to make way for the 73-kilometer Metro Cebu Expressway project that will connect Naga in the south to Danao City in the north. Tree cutting has been a rampant problem in the south of Cebu not only because of illegal loggers but also because of Road Widening initiatives that cut down more and more trees without planting more. This fight has been going on since 2012 when plans for the new highway revealed that 130 Heritage trees were being cut down. The heritage trees are acacia trees planted along the highway in 1915 on orders of governor Dionesio Jakosalem.
Heritage trees are what bring beauty to the road and supply us with oxygen, they are part of the heritage of Cebu as they were planted in 1915. Many of these trees have seen the history of Cebu they have seen the Railway of Cebu or Riles sa Sugbo. These trees survived World War 2. Today they are in Danger from road widening. The provincial government has already issued a temporary ban on cutting down of trees that are over 100 years old, DPWH and DENR have assured Cebuanos that the trees will be safe. A project engineer for DPWH 7 said that the government will have to buy 13,000 Seedlings. As of 2019 many petitions on many websites have garnered over 32 Thousands signatures which as of now stopped the cutting but how long can this last?
Except when the DPWH starts charting out new roadways without knowing the trees are there .
And if there is no coordination w the town s tree conservationists, it can suddenly be too late