Decision 36 G.R. No. 215988 Good vegetation practices and sound soil management programs shall be observed whenever practicable. Therefore, only when it is absolutely necessary shall vegetated land be cleared. 153 Hence, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources required private respondents to obtain a separate environmental compliance certificate for the cutting or earth-balling of the affected Benguet pine and Alnus trees. This was to ascertain that the removal or replanting of the trees would not lead to a significant negative environmental impact. While this Court acknowledges and lauds private respondents' efforts 154 to plant a considerable amount of pine seedlings in and around Baguio City, it cannot make up for the removal or replanting of the trees affected by the Expansion Project, which was patently illegal. It does not escape this Court's attention that both the Regional Trial Court and the Comi of Appeals missed private respondents' application for the cutting of 182 trees-in addition to 112 already allowed in the earlier Environmental Compliance Certificate-merely through an amended Environmental Compliance Certificate and almost nine (9) years after tL-; original had been used. This Court also notes the lower court's nonchalant attitude when it failed to notice the Department of Environment and Natural Resources failure to distinguish indigenous long-standing pine trees fror . those recently planted when it issued the amended Environmentc. l Compliance Certificate despite the existence of Executive Order No. 23. This Court has, time and again, considered that the words in Article 11, Section 16 of the Constitution are not mere shibboleths: SECTION 16. The State shall protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature. While the provision does not contain a specific act required by the State, it certainly mandates the sensitivity of both the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and our courts to acquire a standpoint that is protective of our ecology. Shmicuts into the process through which the State assures minimal impact on the environment, weighed against the profits to be generated by businesses, must not be tolerated. This Court is witness to the transformation of Baguio City. There h~ d been a time, in the distant past, when the smell of pine trees and fresh air, 151 154 Id.at813. Id.at 1895-1907. /