“Nailing, tacking or stapling of campaign materials such as tarpaulin banners and posters damages the protective bark and punctures the inside of a tree, allowing the entry of harmful organisms and eventually causing stress, inhibiting growth or killing the tree,” EcoWaste Coalition said.
If politicians are really serious about environmental protection, they should start by not using trees to post their campaign materials, an environmental group said.
In a statement Sunday (January 2), EcoWaste Coalition urged candidates for the national and local elections scheduled this May to mandate their campaign organizers and supporters not to nail, tack, staple or hang campaign posters and other materials on trees.
The group also petitioned to local environmental officials to immediately take down campaign materials attached to trees and issue notices of violation to concerned parties and individuals.
“Nailing, tacking or stapling of campaign materials such as tarpaulin banners and posters damages the protective bark and punctures the inside of a tree, allowing the entry of harmful organisms and eventually causing stress, inhibiting growth or killing the tree,” the group said in its statement.
The group added that “injuring” trees goes against Republic Act No. 3571, as amended by Presidential Decree 953, is prohibited and is punishable.
RA 3571, enacted in 1963, prohibits the “cutting, destroying or injuring of planted or growing trees, flowering plants and shrubs or plants of scenic value along public roads, in plazas, parks, school premises or in any other public ground.”
PD 953, issued in 1976, makes it punishable for “any person who cuts, destroys, damages or injures, naturally growing or planted trees of any kind, flowering or ornamental plants and shrubs, or plants of scenic, aesthetic and ecological values.”
COMELEC Resolution No. 10730 pertaining to the Rules and Regulations for the 2022 polls states that “in cases where parties and candidates still persist in displaying, posting, or exhibiting their campaign or election propaganda on trees and plants, they shall be prosecuted for violation of these Rules, without prejudice to the institution of a criminal complaint for the violation of Republic Act No. 3571.”
"It is our shared responsibility to care for the trees that help us fight global warming and climate change, purify the air, provide habitats for wildlife, prevent soil erosion and floods, and supply us with food, medicine, paper and other essentials," the group reiterated.
Tags: #2022Elections, #campaignmaterials, #trees, #EcoWasteCoalition