BAGUIO CITY—“Don’t let a single pine tree die in Baguio.” This was the instruction given by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to environment officials here on Friday. Baguio is equated with pine trees, Cimatu told visiting military officials enrolled in the National Defense College of the Philippines whom he met briefly at City Hall. “But when I played golf here [in February], at every hole I saw 10 dying trees. “The next generation of pine trees [near urban settlements] is too small if all the [mature] pine trees die at the same time,” he said. The city is tapping the Baguio Water District to oversee liquid waste clean-up because it can measure how much water each household consumes.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer December 06, 2019 21:00 UTC