300-year-old Toog tree faces danger anew of being cut down

The DAVAO ROS-VER PAWNSHOP, INC. and NEW PAG-ASA PAWNSHOP will be having its JOINT AUCTION on all unredeemed pawned items left during the month of January 2023. The said items will be sold to the public at the following VENUE AND DATE.

Gipahibalo ang publiko na ang DAVAO ROS-VER PAWNSHOP, INC. og ang NEW PAG-ASA PAWNSHOP; magsubasta sa tanang prenda nga naremata atong Enero 2023. Ang tanang prenda dungan nga ibaligya sa publiko sa mga sumusunod nga dapit og petsa:

is hereby given that the estate of the late AURORA Davao City; The deceased at the time of her death left the real property particularly described to wit:

Republic of the Philippines DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Regional Franchising and Libby Road, Bago Gallera, Davao City

Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience to operate an AIRCONDITIONED TAXI Service

Case No. R11-NC-TX-2023-3-011

GELAI FUEL AND SERVICES CORP.,

NOTICE OF HEARING

SAN

March)—The 300-year-old Philippine Rosewood tree ( Petersianthus quarilatus ) near the national highway in Barangay Alegria here, considered the tallest and the oldest of its kind in the country, is facing another threat to be cut down as residents living nearby were worried it might fall during a strong earthquake last week.

Most of the local oftee hearing initiated by the municipal council’s environment committee have given more weight to protecting people’s lives than the historical value of the towering tree locally called Toog.

On Tuesday, the committee hearing chaired by Sangguniang Bayan (SB) member Jay-Ar de Asis held at Barangay Alegria’s covered court to hear the residents’ sentiments of fear that a tree might fall whenever a natural disaster like a storm or earthquake might occur in the future.

It was held in response to a barangay resolution asking Mayor Grace Carmel Paredes-Bravo to conduct another assessment by a joint team of government experts on the health status of the 54-meter-tall tree.

“The protection and safety of the greater number of people is my utmost concern,” Paredes-Bravo said.

Vice Mayor Arth Ryan Palabrica and other SB members aired the same stand as the mayor as they voiced their respective concerns.

Barangay Captain Blantown officials that many residents living near the tree were sleepless for many nights, fearing the Toog might tumble down after the magnitude 5.9 earthquake jolted many towns of neighboring Davao de Oro province last week.

Elsie Teola, a retired public school teacher whose house is near the tree across the national highway, tolding towards them during the earthquake, prompting them to seek refuge at the covered court for many nights.

The committee agreed that a letter of invitation would be sent on Monday to concerned government experts for updates on the tree's health status.

This was the third time to decide to cut down the centuries-old Toog after thement of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) had given the cutting permit. local conservationist group, and DENR foresters agreed they will spare the cutting of the tree to pave the way for a thorough assessment by experts to determine if it is still healthy.

The following year, locut down the tree to half its height so that 30 meters will remain standing to maintain a landmark memory.

The tree was set to be cut down on August 8 and 9 in 2020 on orders of localmendations of the DENR, which said the cavity on its buttress has worsened that “it might fall anytime soon.”

In a last-minute effort, a situated at Bajada, Davao City, containing an area of Two situated at Bajada, Davao City containing an area of (MT-Mar. 10, 17 & 24, 2023) local conservationist group, Save the Toog Tree Please (STOP) movement, led by Engr. Mauro Bravo Jr., a retired district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways whose family is a town pioneer, had successfully suspended the scheduled cutting of the tree.

The STOP movement sought support from the Society of Filipino Foresters, Inc. (SFFI) and the Philippine Native Tree Enthusiasts (PNTE), a social mediabased national conservationist group, that resulted in another suspension of the tree cutting as they pleaded Agusan del Sur Gov. Santiago Cane Jr., and Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to conduct a reevaluation and reassessment on the health status of the Toog tree.

Tree surgeons Armando Palijon, a former forestry professor at the University of the Philippines–Los Baños, and Marcelina Pacho, the former pathologist of

DENR’s Ecosystem Research and Development Bureau, agreed to conduct the reevaluation and assessment via a Zoom live meeting with SFFI vice president Jose Kanapi Jr. and local SFFI member Raul Bunao, who followed the guidelines set by the experts while doing live discussions at the location of the Toog tree.

At that time, Palijon and Pacho could not personally visit the tree due country was grappling with the COVID-19 crisis, thus the Zoom meeting as an alternative procedure.

In September 2020, Palijon and another expert arborist, June Micosa, found the iconic tree alive and well after two days of technical assessment.

He told members of the Agusan del Sur Environment and Sustainable Development Council (ASESDC) in a meeting that the Toog tree is very much alive and still structurally stable that can even resist the effects of

In the application filed on March 6, a Certificate of Public Convenience to operate an AIRCONDITIONED TAXI SERVICE for the transportation of passengers and freight on the route: WITHIN DAVAO CITY AND FROM SAID PLACE TO ANY POINT IN REGION XI accessible to motor vehicle traffic and vice versa with the use of TWENTY FIVE (25) units with SEVENTEEN (17) units available for operation NOTICE is hereby given that this application will be heard by this Board on MARCH 29, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. At least TEN (10) days prior to the above once in a newspaper of general circulation Parties opposed to the granting of the supported by documentary evidence on or before the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the applicant, and may if they This application will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the documentary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive additional NONITO A. LLANOS III, natural calamities.

Palijon issued these part of their series of third(TPSA) of the iconic Toog tree as requested by STOP movement with the support of the SFFI and PNTE. (Chris V. Panganiban / MindaNews)