THE Baguio City Council approved on Monday, October 26, a resolution urging the Department of Environment And Natural Resources (DENR)-Cordillera and the City Environment and Parks Management Office (Cepmo) to immediately issue permits for the cutting of dead trees and trees that pose serious threat to the main lines of Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco).

Authored by Councilor Joel Alangsab, who chairs the committee on Environment, the resolution stated that as Tropical Storm Pepito (Saudel) hit northern Luzon and it caused floods, landslide and fallen trees, there were no calamitous incident reported in the City of Baguio, nonetheless, the stumbled or fallen trees on the main line of the Beneco cause unscheduled power interruptions in some areas of the city.

Alangsab said unscheduled power interruptions should have been avoided if the dead trees and trees that pose serious threat to the main lines of Beneco had been removed or cut.

“In this new normal, electricity is very vital in the lives of our citizens particularly the teachers, students and those working on line,” Alangsab added.

He said in order to avoid foreseeable unscheduled power interruptions, “DENR-CAR and Cepmo are hereby urged to issue immediately the corresponding permit for the cutting of identified dead trees or trees that poses serious threat to the main lines of Beneco.”