THE Bacolod Council has approved a resolution requesting the City Mayor’s Office through the City Legal Office for an update on the investigation of the cutting of trees along Araneta Street, Bacolod City.
The resolution, authored by Councilor Carlos Jose Lopez, was approved during the regular session of the City Council on Wednesday afternoon, June 9, 2021.
Lopez said on April 14, Mayor Evelio Leonardia issued Executive Order No. 19 for the creation of a committee to investigate the cutting of trees along Araneta Street.
He said the investigating committee is chaired by City Legal Officer Joselito Bayatan.
In April, a total of 26 trees were cut by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) purportedly to give way to the rehabilitation of the sidewalk via the construction of a footwalk along the said areas.
Leonardia, who signed the EO on April 14, 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 said 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 permits for the cutting of trees require additional safeguards and if further consultations should be made prior to its grants,” he said.
The mayor tasked Bayatan as chairperson of the investigating committee, with its members Police Colone Manuel Placido, director of Bacolod City Police Office; Secretary to the Sangguniang Panlungsod lawyer Vicente Petierre III; Acting City Engineer Alido Agbones, Environment and Natural Resources officer-in-charge Nelson Sedillo; and City Legal Office Enforcement Unit lawyer Reuben Mikhail Sabig.