They are definitely not tree-huggers

On Monday, I showed you some of the beautiful acacia trees that are still numerous in my little corner of Quezon City. This 'corner' is actually an academic district which includes the University of the Philippines – Diliman, Miriam College (formerly Maryknoll College) and Ateneo de Manila University. The road which connects these three is Katipunan Avenue, which used to have a narrow island which separated the main road from a side road that gave motorists safe access to the commercial establishments and condominiums on one side of the road. That narrow island used to be lined with beautiful acacia trees too. Then about four years ago, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) started cutting down the trees. Of course, the students, faculty and employees of the schools and the residents of the subdivisions in the area raised a massive howl of protest. To make a long story short, the MMDA was forced to stop cutting the trees but by that time, only the trees at either end of the road were still standing. On February 13, 2009, my husband and I went home from work as usual and those few remaining trees were still there. On the afternoon of February 14, we saw these men hacking the curb of the island and all the trees were gone! There was a sign that said that the trees were not cut down but removed with their roots and planted elsewhere. Where? No one knows. How deep do you think the roots of Monday's 60-year-old acacias would be? How big a hole do you think they would leave behind? The holes I saw looked to be about one meter (3 feet) in diameter and depth. The MMDA did not give the communities here any warning or information before the trees were uprooted in the middle of the night and the early morning of a Saturday when most students and faculty weren't around because there were no classes. The MMDA has not released any information or photos to reassure the communities here that the trees were planted and are thriving in their new home. This is my first story about the MMDA but it won't be my last.