Baguio residents march to save trees in mall project

BAGUIO, Philippines – More than 3,000 people marched across the streets of Baguio City on Friday to protest the planned uprooting of nearly 200 trees for the construction of a 7-floor parking building.

SM City Baguio was granted a cutting-balling permit by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) last October.

The protesters blame the local government and the DENR for approving the project.

“They are only listening to the city officials and to the DENR. Where is our voice? This is the time for us to bring out our voice,” said Dr. Michael Bengwayan.

SM management, meanwhile, insisted that no trees will be killed since they will all be replanted.

It added that the project will provide jobs and help promote tourism.

“Ang gagawin ng SM ay ire-relocate at i-e-earthball lahat ng puno, using the approved methodology,” said Engr. Bien Mateo, vice president for operations for SM.

Environmentalists, however, warned that there is no guarantee that all of the replanted trees will survive.

“There are species like the pine tree, which are very sensitive sa stress. ‘Yung movement niya kapag i-earthball mo ‘yan, you have to dig deeper,” said Moises Bai of the Forest Management Service.

Following the protest, the city council has promised to investigate the issue.

“The rights of the private owner may be regulated by the government if it affects public welfare,” said Councilor Lourdes Tabanda.

Councilors said the permit given to SM can still be revoked if proven the project is detrimental.-- ANC

From-->http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/01/20/12/baguio-residents-march-save-trees-mall-project

PROTESTERS OCCUPY LUNETA HILL DEFEND 187 TREES IN BAGUIO CITY

The huge rally against the approved earth balling and eventual transfer of some 187 alnus and pine trees at Luneta Hill here ended up with students trying to “occupy” SM City Baguio later in the day.

As of 6:00 in the evening, the protesters have occupied the rotunda at the foot of Luneta Hill, attracting more passers-by, even those who have just left the mall, causing traffic to slow down. Shield-welding police force beefed up mall security guards and a steel barricade protected mall premises from possible “occupation” by rallyists. Organized protesters, mostly students from major universities and colleges in the city and La Trinidad, called on the public to boycott the mall that intends to expand with a multi-level open-air building that would house more retail, dining and entertainment firms.

SM City Baguio’s expansion plan along Governor Pack Road will be a green building with a 76,000-square-meter floor area to augment its existing mall space in Baguio has 106,000 square meters.

Earlier the protest rally mobilized around 5,000,Pine Tree Ecological Center with university students and grade-school children providing the bulk of the protesters. A score of environmentalists and development-oriented groups, nuns, priests, teachers, artists and other sectors, both residents and non-residents braved the 2:00 PM heat and marched from the foot of Luneta Hill to the People’s Park. The Association of Women Religious of Banguio-Benguet mobilized habit-donning nuns and other religious women. A total of 60 groups enlisted in the protest actions triggered by an on-line petition

The multitude in protest is among the largest crowds that gathered to air their cause in the People’s Park, since the anti-Tuntex tree-cutting at Camp John Hay in the mid-90′s, and the anti-San Roque protest, according to Perry Mendoza of Tongtongan ti Umili (TTU). Mendoza led in recalling how Baguio residents were caught flat-footed with the speed by which the SM expansion plan was given a building permit by city hall and similarly the granting of a quick tree-cutting and earth-balling permit by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Mendoza said the government should prioritize spending on education, health and livelihood, instead of helping facilitate the building of malls that tend to compete with small home-grown entrepreneurs in the city.

Pine Tree Ecological Center’s Dr. Michael Bengwayan, who spearheaded the protest action through his on-line petition launched on January 8 enlightened the rally participants on the technicalities of a tree-cutting incident.

“Now is the time to raise our voice,” Bengwayan called on Baguio residents, saying that the approved tree-cutting and earth-balling plan to give way to a mall expansion is not about the money that capitalists would be getting out of the expansion but about “the people’s stewardship of nature, to protect it not to destroy it.”

Among Baguio personalities in the protest actions was former Mayor Braulio Yaranon, who staunchly opposed tree-cutting along Gov. Pack Road at the Baguio General Hospital Rotonda that now holds a flyover.

On January 15 an earlier protest action gathered only a handful determined Baguio residents but the call against the uprooting of trees in Luneta Hill inspired other people to publish on-line posters like the one which called for a boycott to SM Baguio. Graphic signs of protests took the form of photographs. “Your parking lot is not worth dying for,” and “It’s not about what you’re gonna build, It’s about what you’re gonna kill, No to the mass murder of trees,” are getting posted many times.

Photographers also found themselves expressing their anti-tree-cutting sentiments. Award-winning Baguio photographer Mau Victa came up with a moving photo with caption “stop cutting.uprooting trees,” echoing the title of the on-line petition.

Status updates on Facebook, as well as comments and threads also carried similar sentiments including boycotting SM City Baguio. One such comment goes this way: “To the people of Baguio, if possible stop shopping or malling at SM ,this is another kind of protesting or saving our native land, always remember we did survive before this mall was built… think ’bout it…!!!”

In its website SM Development Corporation said, “The project aims to be the first mall in the country to be certified by LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), the internationally recognized standard for green building design and construction developed by the US Green Building Council. # Lyn V. Ramo

LET'S ALL UNITE TO SAVE 187 PINE TREES IN BAGUIO CITY

Baguio residents march to save trees in mall project