DENR INVENTORIES TREES IN BATAAN HI-WAY REHAB

PILAR, Bataan: The provincial office here of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Wednesday said it was still conducting official inventory of full-grown trees to be affected by aplanned widening of the four-lane Roman Expressway to six lanes with funding estimated at P3.8 billion. Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Raul Mamac said most of the trees will not be destroyed but will undergo earth-balling whereby the trees’ roots are dug up in preparation for transfer to designated sites. He added that some will only be trimmed so as not to snag electric and telephone lines and keep them from falling and causing accidents along the highway. Engineers from the first and second districts placed the total number of trees to be affected by the rehabilitation project at about 5,075 trees whose trunks have diameters of from 0.2 to 1.5 meters. A member of the Public Works team making the inventory said most of the trees are narra, acacia and eucalyptus planted sometime in the 1970s. Mamac said the trees destroyed will be replaced with 100 seedlings to be planted by members of religious and civic organizations,

3 BULACAN ART MAESTROS HONORED

THE BULACAN provincial government will honor three masters of contemporary art in line with its celebration of the National Arts Month on February 28 at the Bulacan Capitol gymnasium. Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado said the “Parangal ng Kislap ng Sining” will give recognition to Godofredo “Ka Goding” Reyes, master oil painter of Hagonoy and member of the Hagonoy Art Group; Pedro Esguerra of Pulilan, a master carver who uses banana stalk instead of and Dr. Herminio Suarez of Balagtas, a symphonic band member and director of Cultural Affairs and Performing Arts of Bulacan State University and 2008 Huwarang Pilipino awardee. The awards ceremonies, organized through the Provincial History, Arts, Culture and Tourism Office, is part of “Kislap ng Sining sa Bulacan,” celebration. Other activities include: “Kalutong Bulakenyo - Mama Sita @100: Food Safety Seminar and Cooking Demo’ at 1 p.m. on February 17 at the PCEDO conference room; “Zumba sa Sining” by the Bulacan Culture and Arts Council at 8 a.m. on February 22 at Guiguinto Municipal Arts and Culture Center; and “Sayaw Pinoy sa Bulacan,” a program of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts at 2 p.m. on February 22 in the same venue.