David Butan fights Goliath Philex

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

Around coffee table last week, I accidentally eavesdropped on an interesting topic about the mining interests of Philex and Butan. The details of a case involving the two have yet to be seen but an initial story that was told on that table was that members of the Butan group went to padlock the gate of a tunnel within their claim that was allegedly being illegally used by Philex in its mining activities.

               

Because of that, Butan now wants to collect amounts of money from Philex that is long overdue. By the way, when the Butan group was leaving Philex, security personnel with the assistance of some government police accosted them.                They were never showed nor told of any reasons why the government police was interfering in their private affairs. When I heard the story, I immediately suspected in my mind that the policemen were moonlighting. As there were no orders from higher police officials to accost the private citizens who were only protecting their rights and properties adjacent to the mining operations of Philex, then the orders to accost them came from no one else, but from a Philex  person in authority.

                                ***

Another one against Luneta tree killing. This article was emailed to me, the sender requesting that it be uploaded in our web newspaper. I thought it would also be good to share parts of the article in my weekly column. The article entitled “Baguio City Sans Pine Trees” was written by one Tes B. Choa. For lack of space, I selected parts of the of the article and I quote:

           

 … And now the ShoeMart (SM) branch of Baguio is proposing a 7-level project that will cut another 182 trees. Somehow they think it will perfume their project if they say that the trees will be earthballed and relocated in their property. Tree Doctors and Experts – SerafinMetilla and ChitoBertol says it is very difficult to do this to pine trees because pine trees have such spread out sensitive roots that once the roots are injured, the whole tree dies. Ask the DENR an example of pine trees that they have successfully transferred or earthballed and they will show you NOTHING. For one thing, the DENR does not have the proper machines to relocate established trees. In the United States, it cost one million dollars ($1M) to earthball and transfer an established oak tree.

           

SM repeatedly tells the public that only 182 trees will be affected. Let me tell you the truth. SM Baguio was the former Pines Hotel opposite the Vallejo Hotel. When the mall was built, 473 trees were cut. When they added the Call Center, another 100 trees were cut. With this latest project with 1,000 slots for parking, a water catchment or cistern that is capable of holding 6.9 million liters and a roof garden that will try to “simulate” nature – 182 trees will die. Get your calculators out and you have 755 trees massacred for this giant entity that calculates to earn P1 million a day, just on parking alone. With a roof garden, perhaps 6 meters of soil in depth , how can you accommodate the roots of a pine tree? How will you address the drainage? On top of that, do you know that Baguio has FIVE crisscrossing fault lines? In 1990 we lost more than 3,000 lives due to an earthquake. One crack on that water catchment or cistern and you have a deluge that will pour into Session Road and probably reach the Public Market unless the water path directs its flow to University of the Cordillera across Gov. Pack Road first. So there you have another school with hundreds of students that will be affected plus pedestrians trekking in red, thick mud into town and into the mall. With no roots to hold the erosion in check and just a reinforced retaining wall that has no guarantee of leaching, what a disaster waiting to happen!

           

 ... SM boasts they will plant 50,000 trees in a period of three years. Well, it takes 50 years for a pine tree to reach full maturity. Meanwhile the new, small and puny pine trees that will be planted cannot give the same benefits that these established pine trees can offer. And where will the 50,000 trees be planted in the city proper? You will probably go to Sto. Tomas Hill to plant that many. This is a good half an hour away from the city. There are no roads that can accommodate 546 buses in that area. Shall we sacrifice health for a daily intake of P1 million a day for SM? In a meeting with Mr. Hans Sy, he informed us that his “real” expansion was China. Then, why oh why expand in Baguio? One parking slot has an average of 20 turnovers in a day. If you charge P35 for the parking slot and multiply that by 20 users, you earn P700 a day for that one slot. Now multiply that by 1,000 and you get a hefty sum of P700,000. The present mall has at least 400 slots to begin with. Get your calculators out and add those 400 slots as well. Now you know why SM is determined to put up this 7 level project.

           

To add insult to injury, do you know that SM does not pay Income Tax to Baguio City? It pays to Cavite where the BIR National Office is located. What is paid in Baguio is the Real Estate Tax and the business permits to include the vendors’ permits. Unfortunately we have a Baguio City Council that has been cowed and lured into an illusion of traffic decongestion. The City Engineers must have been more than eager to give their approval for such a project. In a meeting with the City Urban Coordinator, I was informed there was an ordinance to limit buildings or construction to five  stories. So, why an approval for a 7 level project?             The Regional Office of DENR took a year to give its ECC Clearance. Does Mr. Clarence Baquilat know of experts who can assure the citizenry that those earthballed trees will survive?If he does, can he pinpoint a location where they have successfully relocated established pine trees? I would dearly love to see such an area.I would love to call on Serafin Metilla (Bonsai  and Tree Expert) and ChitoBertol (President of Manila Seedling Bank) to certify that earthballing of pine trees can be a successful endeavour.

           

A Temporary Protection Order was issued by the Court (Branch 5) in Baguio. This Branch handles all environmental issues. Until this case is resolved, the building of the 7 level project of SM is on hold. Open your email, your google and facebook. You will see all the ads placed by SM. During the rallies, pictures of the event were on the front pages of the local papers.

               

Did you hear a peep in the Big 3? Not a peep in the Star, Inquirer or Bulletin. When a giant is involved, especially one that regularly advertises every week, the “Silence of the Lambs” is heard. Self-Censorship dominates. Currently it is the Opinion Writers that take up the advocacy. SM has hired writers to counter the issues mentioned by the protesters. SM has applied for a LEED (Leadership in Energy Environmental Design) Certificate. I wonder if the cutting of 755 trees will be taken into consideration for this application. I guess not.”

                                ***

What’s the issue about an article on Doc Mike that is waiting to be in the Reader’s Digest? Whether or not the RD published the article on its interview with Dr. Mike Bengwayan is now beyond the point. Doc Mike said he did not ask for this. But what has made it colorful now?

It is not that he was prematurely announced through media that he is the environmental hero of RD but because when people did not see it published, somebody who wanted to hit at Doc Mike for obvious reasons took advantage of it and went ahead talking about it on social networking and even wrote an anonymous letter in a local paper.

Wanting to hit back at Doc Mike for the benefit of another in exchange for favors known only to the parties is the reason, nothing more. As for the many who know Doc Mike, they say that he is truly an environment hero because of his selfless dedication to environmental protection just like the thousands of innocent kids who plant thousands of trees under the eco-walk program of Mondax.

There is no doubt about that. I know of environmental heroes who are truly deserving of the name as compared to some people in the council who talk about caring for the environment in their reports.   – marchfianza777@yahoo.com