BEHIND
THE SCENES
Alfred
P. Dizon
BAGUIO CITY – Malcolm Square or
People’s Park in this summer capital is now like a woman stripped of her
clothes after two mature Agoho trees there were cut by persons whose minds maybe
as bare as the desert.
Netizens said these airheads deserve
to be banished to the Scarborough Shoal so the Chinese there could give them
more lessons on how to destroy the environment by making them dig for corals to
make islands.
The oldies who used to sit at Malcom
Square and read newspapers, have their shoes shined or meet their friends are
no more since sitting there would mean torture from harsh rays of the sun.
Gone are protective canopies of
branches which made the park cool and a comfort zone for the weary like senior
citizens – those who would sit and relax or have a talk with buddies after a
walk or visit at the market.
The park had been touted world-class
after a P10-million makeover by a contractor. Pundits however said not even P2
million could have been used for its renovation which was just putting some
tiles here and there and cementing areas which could have been left where
plants could grow. But, again, according to netizens, business is business and
contractors go into it to get rich.
***
Anyhow, the city government has
started investigating the controversial cutting of the trees last November.
A report by Eileen P. Refuerzo, head
of the city information office said Mayor Mauricio Domogan created an ad hoc
fact-finding committee to probe whether city employees involved in the incident
are liable to administrative charges.
The three-man committee chaired by
community affairs officer III Michelle Agbuya was given 20 days to finish the
probe and hearings and to submit findings and recommendations on the incident.
Refuerzo said the mayor issued Administrative
Order No. 189 series of 2016 to determine prima facie case against three city
environment and parks management office (CEPMO) employees involved in the
incident.
Domogan said the decision was based
on a letter of CEPMO head Cordelia Lacsamana who recommended filing of
administrative charges against said employees for alleged “defiance of legal
and moral order.”
“Upon review of the documents
submitted by Ms. Lacsamana, the undersigned believes that the acts committed
by the above-named employees may constitute gross insubordination and conduct prejudicial
to the best interest of the service under Rule 10, Section 46 (B-7 and 8) of
the revised rules on administrative cases in the civil service,” the mayor
said.
***
The three employees last November
defended their decision to cut the two trees into minimum branches to “preserve
and rejuvenate said trees and to ensure public safety.” The tree trunks are still
standing after these were cut around three meters from the ground.
In their letter to the mayor and to
Lacsamana, they said upon inspection, they found the trees’ root base were
already loose and incapable of supporting a heavy top.
Seeing it as urgent and endangering
public safety, they said they decided to severe the branches at that moment
even as they coordinated with their office’s forestry division to work out
processing of trimming permit but which was not immediately done as the officer
in charge was at that moment attending a seminar.
They said the remaining trees in the
area were not trimmed as they did not exhibit advanced center rot as the two
other trees had.
***
In their letter, the CEPMO personnel
apologized for acting without first securing the permit, adding lapse on their
decisions will not happen again in the future.
The cutting earned criticism from
residents and from the mayor who said he was shocked by the sight of the bald
trees as he could not recall signing a permit for such activity.
Lacsamana earlier said she only
ordered her employees to shape the trees to accommodate Christmas decorations
for the opening of the newly rehabilitated park and did not expect them to
undertake the “trimming without permission.”
***
Whatever, it was not “trimming” that
happened. It was “cutting.” Inya metten. These guys who cut those trees should
be made to sit there all day under the sun as penance for what they did. But
that wouldn’t be enough. Ipaikkat yo pay ti panpantalon da ta marikna da nu
kasanu ti malabusan like what they did to the park.
But there is no cure for a barren
mind, so we will leave it at that and have the city government determine their
appropriate punishment.
***
Following
this, the city government through the CEPMO
set rules on operation and maintenance of the park.
In Administrative Order No. 196
series of 2016, Domogan decreed “admission at the park as a protected landscape
will be free of charge to the public through harmonious interaction of man and
land while providing opportunities for public enjoyment through recreation and
tourism within the normal lifestyle and economic activity. All activities or
facilities in the park will be regulated, licensed and permitted through the CEPMO
with payment for use of area or environmental maintenance fee and permitting to
be done based on City Ordinance No. 18 series of 2016.
“The city government also reserves
the right to disallow any activity.
Only the following activities will
be allowed at the park:
Social programs, musical concerts,
television shows or TV and film promotion, field demonstration, sports
tournament, skills Olympics or competition, political rallies and similar
activities consistent with intended use of the park.”
***
“The following activities will be
prohibited: “smoking, drinking liquor or alcoholic beverages; bonfire or undue
burning, sleep out, walking and or displaying of medium to big sized dogs and
similar pets, pasturing and turning loose of pets and other domesticated
animals, destroying or mutilating, picking or cutting of flowers and plants or
uprooting of plants.” (Ni, awan met nakitak nga mula ijay)
“Others include “work out or
practice driving of two or four-wheeled rides or vehicles, roller skating,
skateboarding and similar rides; unnecessary nailing, bolting, posting of
signage in any part of the park; urinating, littering, spitting and spitting of
momma; gambling of any kind to include bingo socials; unauthorized flyer and
poster distribution, religious open preaching; personal services like massage,
nail spa, henna tattooing; fortune telling using cards or any devices or tools;
begging, caroling by individuals or groups, soliciting contribution or
donation; marketing or promotion of products, product sampling; peddling of
services and goods of any kind to include shoe shine, cutflower or ornamental
plants (to include along the sidewalks fronting Magsaysay Avenue and Session
Road and walls of the stair landing of overpass);
destroying, disfiguring, defacing or
vandalizing any monument, implements, amenities, devices, displays, signs or
any property installed thereat by the government and or the use thereof for
purposes of hanging any form of advertisements; leaving unmanaged solid waste
materials after the event and/or untended solid waste materials in designated
pick up points for organized event; mixing of concrete and/or stocking of
concrete materials along the side streets, and trade fairs (except sponsored by
the City Government of Baguio through Sangguniang Panlungsod action .”
(Makaaanges ka pay?)
Other banned activities: “Parking of
vehicles both private, government or public utility vehicles inside the Malcolm
Square or along Perfecto Street specifically (from the corner of Session Road
and Perfecto Street to corner Magsaysay Avenue and Perfecto Street will also be
prohibited. However, unloading or loading of goods for business establishments
in the area is allowed from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. only on a “drop-and-go policy.”
The loading areas of Trancoville,
Aurora Hill, Tiptop and other transport groups should be relocated to other
areas but this will be subject to appropriate administrative order or Traffic
and Transport Management Committee resolution.”
See what cutting of two trees can
do?
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