Sacrificing trees for road-widening senseless

This is a reaction to the article titled “Our infrastructure handicap” by Cielito F. Habito (Opinion, 1/7/14), wherein he cited that one of the problems of Philippine infrastructure is that “they are not integrated and coordinated.”

In a recent trip to the far north, we were glad to have enjoyed the timely completion of the widened highway along the towns of Tarlac.  The cool and smooth ride was made more pleasant with the robust, tall trees lining the Tarlac highway.  We simply relished the shade provided by the large, leafy trees.

Then, all of a sudden, we were cruising under the hot, blistering afternoon sun along  Pangasinan towns.  We, then, noticed felled huge trunks and stumps of trees along the highway to give way for the road repairs.  Gone were the giant acacia, narra and mahogany trees along the highway.  We also saw some trees with scratched rings marking where they were to be cut down.  And many of such trees were even hardly within the road’s way.  Couldn’t the authorities have learned from their sensible Tarlac neighbors how to preserve and save the trees, even as they widen the roads?

We hope that concerned officials will coordinate efforts and be more careful in cutting down trees for our and the future generations’ benefit.

—CHING D. AUNARIO,

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