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.
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