New Baguio charter vetoed; SM reps ‘praning’

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO By March L. Fianza

I suspect there must be something that is causing the paranoia recently displayed by representatives of the business giant atop Luneta Hill when members of PS182 or the Save 182 Movement and thousands of anti-tree cutting supporters marched from Igorot Park to Session Road and through the old public road Luneta Drive, yes, that’s right - a PUBLIC ROAD, last Monday afternoon. The night before, Baguio musicians held a concert at the Post Office park to mark the first year anniversary of last year’s anti-SM tree cutting rally. Paranoia is an unreasonable suspicion of unfounded motives of other people.

I define it as the form of illness by people who are afraid of their own shadow. The day was the first year anniversary of the first monstrous parade rally against the plan to kill and earth-ball some 182 Benguet Pine and Alnus trees at Luneta Hill behind the SM building to give way to a new parking lot extension. I remember saying that last year’s parade rally could land in the Guinness pages as the parade rally that quickly gathered around more than 5,000 marchers in the shortest notice. In both rallies; love for trees, for nature and the green environment, and hatred for greedy people connected with SM were the main elements that pushed people to join the environmental protest.

Last Monday, the participants of more than a thousand paraded with the beating of 182 Igorot brass gongs that according to PS182 co-founder GidsOmero, “the gongs reverberated so loudly, the city cops cannot find the volume controls to tone them down…. SM's top-of-the-line sound systems were like transistor radios compared to our gongs!” SM Baguio did it before in one of the rallies last year. As environmentalists were speaking out their minds, loud speakers were directed to the rallyists. They did it again last Monday. Whoever brought up that idea of attempting to drown what was being said in the pro-environment speeches and performances was simply unintelligent and has further eroded an already damaged SM persona. It only reveals the kind of character people who connect with SM have.

At first the environment protesters were prevented by our very own government police from passing through Luneta Drive, a public road. Accordingly, the police manning the entrance to SM on Luneta Drive were sticking to the order of police traffic czar James Logan not to let the peaceful protesters passage because the parade rally permit only allowed them to pass through Session road then proceed to the Post Office park. This was what the police recommended to the authorities who issue the parade rally permits, but it was eventually scrapped as the permit issued by city administrator Carlos Canilao finally approved the protesters’ request to pass through Luneta Drive. It was obvious that some of the police officials that were assigned here from somewhere were getting orders from a wealthy squatter at Luneta Hill.

The other week, Bishop Carlito Cenzon pleaded to fellow Baguio citizens to let their voices be heard by city hall and by SM by speaking out against the killing of trees. In his pastoral address that was read in many Catholic churches, he said, “this is one moment when we hear reechoing God’s instruction to our first parents: fill the earth and subdue it (Gen.1:28). Let us join up in taking care of our corner of the world.” This after the court ruled in favor of SM and dismissed all three environmental cases. Just like many of us, the bishop disagrees that the mall extension and the earth-balling of trees at Luneta Hill will “not cause irreparable injury to the environment or the constituents of Baguio City.” The bishop further said, SM may claim they bought that hill on which the trees stand even if they cannot show a title to that property, which makes it subject to doubt on its legality or authenticity, but in the name of civic-mindedness, they cannot just do what they want with that property. True, because as I was starting this article last Friday morning, Ted Failon on DZMM caught my attention to a news report that a TRO was just handed down to stop the construction of another SM mall somewhere in Pasay City.

It turned out that the real landowners of a more than half a hectare property complained that their lot was allegedly “illegally acquired” by SM. It looks like a familiar modus operandi is in the works. The procedure is to construct on any property then solve the controversy later. It is familiar in a way that those who assisted SM, particularly people from the DENR, in acquiring Luneta Hill in Baguio and the lot in Pasay, applied similar processes. By the way, Ted Failon mentioned about SM Baguio in his program. He said, “tanungin niyo kung ano sinasabing mga tiga Baguio tungkolsa SM,” apparently referring to how SM acquired the Luneta Hill property where the former Pines Hotel stood.
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Last week, President Noynoy vetoed the law revising the old 1909 Baguio Charter. I am happy with that. Ask me why. It is not only because I am an Ibaloi who feels that the rug is being stolen from under my feet by HB 121 but the other few reasons are that the legislation has not been widely opened for consultation with Baguio-born and Baguio-raised boys and girls. Hence their sentiments were not heard. The legislation manufactured by Honorables Domogan and Vergara favors more the illegal squatters or informal settlers who can now easily own titles to the lands they actually occupy, to the detriment of honest land applicants who chose to follow legal processes sans squatting.

Furthermore, the legislation does not have a provision for a plebiscite. In the proposed bill, it makes Baguio the owner of the city’s townsite reservation. It therefore gives the city the right to dispose away lands, which is the primordial duty of the national government through the DENR. Should this be allowed? If yes, then all the remaining townsite lands would all be disposed off in accordance with how one votes. Since 1909, townsite lands in Baguio were sold through government auction under the supervision of the DENR Secretary, land management bureau director in the region and the city mayor.

This simply says that the legislation seizes and assumes the power of the President through the DENR and the NCIP (National Commission on Indigenous Peoples) national government agency to issue regular land titles or ancestral lands titles. I heard Honorable Vergara say that land applicants in the city who settled on untitled lands were not squatters or informal settlers. I respectfully disagree. All migrants who occupied Baguio lands without first having them formally processed are all informal settlers. The Carino Doctrine as respected by the Americans who issued the Baguio City Charter explains that Baguio lands never became public lands in the first place, because before the colonizers came, there were already private occupants. Is that hard for HonorablesDomogan and Vergara to understand? – marchfianza777@yahoo.com