Manila  - The Philippines' environmental agency said Tuesday that it was studying filing criminal charges against a national park administrator whose office oversaw the cutting of 29 decades-old trees from a historic site in Manila.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said it has notified Maria Ana Harper, head of the Intramuros Administration, that she violated a presidential decree that penalizes the damaging or cutting of trees.

"If found guilty, Harper may face imprisonment of up to two years," the department said in a statement, adding that she could also be fined.

The trees included rosewood and mahogany trees. The rosewood, locally called narra, is the Philippines' national tree.

They were removed last week from Roma park in front of the Manila Cathedral inside Intramuros, Manila's Walled City, which was the first seat of the Spanish colonial government in the Philippines.

While Harper's office was given a permit to remove the trees, DENR Executive Director Corazon Davis noted that the permit laid down strict conditions that the trees must be transferred to another site in Intramuros, which were not followed.

"Those trees were certainly part of our heritage," Davis said. "They were mute witnesses to momentous events which transpired in the Walled City and deserve care and affection or the conservation sense accorded to structures and artifacts in Intramuros." (dpa)