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In a city that grows hotter by the day, trees are not ornaments. They are shelter.
Along Quirino Avenue in Manila, that shelter is being cut down, one trunk at a time. What once stood as a line of mature trees with wide canopies now lies in pieces — stumps, roots, sawdust and slabs of freshly cut wood under the punishing sun.
Workers rushed to clear tree stumps left from more than 200 trees felled Thursday to give way to the Southern Access Link Expressway, or SALEx, a nearly four-kilometer road project that will connect Skyway to Roxas Boulevard. The operation is covered by a permit issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which allows the removal of 617 trees for the project.
The DENR said 225 trees had already cut down as of Tuesday night. Among them was a narra tree estimated to be more than 50 years old, according to the DENR National Capital Region.
