LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

Pretentious environmentalist /Kennon Road stalemate
MARCH L. FIANZA

The first time I heard the news about a pretentious environmentalist intending to build within one of the last Pine sanctuaries in the city, I asked myself: “What kind of monster have we welcomed to our city?” If the proposal pushes through, then hundreds or maybe thousands of Benguet Pine trees beside the Baguio Convention Center will have to be razed to the ground to give space to another concrete monster.

Before they migrated to the city, we heard and saw the likes of them speak about preserving the ecosystem, promote education by donating books to barrio schools and conduct medical missions in the outskirts. Although in the backs of our minds we knew that they do such things to promote corporate image. All of that is okay.

Cutting down hundreds of trees is a different story. It is absolutely not allowable. But then we are not in control nor aware of the thinking of our officials at City Hall. In their decision to cut down the trees or maintain them, they will only be considering two things – public interest or personal. Certainly, big lobby money will go around when the proposal to build on the BCC forest becomes clearer. It is time to take a closer look at your officials.

The BCC building and the thick mini forest beside it were established in 1973 by the Marcos administration. It became host to many national and international events. The properties are under the stewardship of the GSIS. We do not know what deals are about to be brokered between this government agency and the lucky monster. The public must be vigilant. Managing or owning lands is not enough justification that the owner can just do anything with the property, especially if it intends to kill a hundred trees.
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The unresolved row between public officials with regards the issue on whether to allow or not to allow passenger vans through Kennon road has become wider and is now at a deadlock. Thus, it has become coffee shop talk and has opened up discussions in many circles involving several sectors. Here, we attempt to ventilate in many other words what has transpired during discussions on the matter with other newsmen and friends in the media, the way I understood it.

DOTC Dir. Bong Mandapat was correct all the way when he said the van permits (franchises?) were issued with the agreement that they will operate from point-to-point, meaning they will load their passengers at their origin and unload them at a station at their point of destination. In short, they are not allowed pick up passengers along their route.

But, Benguet officials led by Gov. Fongwan said disallowing the vans for hire (VFH) from plying Kennon road could result to hundreds losing their jobs. Together with at least two presidential assistants, they have called on the President to sack Bong from his post or have him placed on “floating status” until the problem is solved.
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Dir. Mandapat was quick to say “politics is again at play” as he explained that he based his decision on a statement by the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau (MGB) that Kennon road is unsafe for passage and he is only “doing what is right and that is to protect the riding public.”

Kennon road looked like a crumpled paper ribbon after the 1990 killer earthquake. Then DENR Executive Dir. Horacio Ramos, himself a mining engineer, declared the road to be unsafe as it has yet to be reconstructed and be proven as stable. A few years after the great earthquake and while it was undergoing massive reconstruction, the DENR closed the road to traffic to all kinds of motor vehicles. This caused RED Ramos his candidacy for Benguet governor in 1992, as the supporters of his opponent campaigned against him by using the Kennon road closure issue.
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As far as Mandapat and Fongwan are concerned, all their explanations are okay as these would support whatever intentions they have, personal or otherwise. On the other hand, both parties could also be wrong even as their respective legislative bodies came to their rescue.

Van driver-operators I have talked to said there are about 400 to 600 VFH that pass through Kennon on week days and 600 to 800 on weekends and holidays (with and without franchise?). But Bong said their permits allowed them to pass through Marcos highway, not Kennon road.

So citing the road’s instability may not be the reason for disallowing VFH in Kennon after all, because only God knows when natural dangers occur. And if passenger safety is a foremost concern, then all types of vehicles should be banned from Kennon.

As for the VFH owners, Dir. Mandapat said transferring their route from Kennon to Marcos would not make anybody lose his job. He said that will not make much difference as they will just add a few liters to their gas consumption to make up for road travel that is a few kilometers longer. – marchfianza777@yahoo.com