The Death of Pine Trees on Luneta Hill: A ConspiracyTheory

The months of December and January seem to be jinxed as far as Baguio's environment is concerned: on December 12, 2014, the Court of Appeals upheld the decision of the lower court with regards to the environmental case filed against SM, DENR, DPWH, et. al. effectively giving Henry Sy the go-signal to destroy one of the few remaining forest covers in the city's Central Business District for a parking building. And this morning, Baguio woke up with this news: Most of the area eyed for their expansion plan has been cleared of trees.

Upon hearing about this latest tree-cutting activity by SM, I just had to go see it for myself. For the first time since December of 2011, I entered SM City Baguio and went straight to the balcony before any of SM's personnel recognized me. I didn't really think they'll drag me out, but who knows. I whipped out my point-and-shoot and started clicking away. These are the pictures:

Photos taken on January 17, 2015

I manually counted the number of trees left standing - there must be around 90 or so left. We can easily say that a total of 100 trees - combination of Alnus and Pine - have been removed. 

Their lawyers will proclaim: there is no legal impediment preventing them from pushing through with their plans. The late Judge Estevez of the Baguio Regional Trial Court himself proclaimed: our arguments against the planned sacrifice of the welfare of the community for Henry Sy's benefit were not enough to stop the expansion plan, and this decision got the nod of Associate Justices Magdangal M. de Leon, Stephen C. Cruz and Zenaida T. Galapate-Laguilles. In their eyes, SM violated no law. In their minds, there is nothing wrong with killing a hundred trees to benefit one corporate entity. For them, SM followed the law to the letter. 

Perhaps, but SM, along with its co-conspirators, violated the very spirit, the true intentions, of those laws. Shame on every single one of them who used, perverted the law to justify environmental rape.

SM City Baguio is not the only guilty party here, no amount of cosmetics can hide the guilt of their enablers.

1. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources led by Sec. Ramon Paje, all the way down to his subordinates at the regional office, who not only legalized SM's immoral plans with their stamps and signatures, but even defended the planned killing of trees in the press and the courts. 

2. The Department of Public Works and Highways led by Rogelio Singson all the way down to officials at the City Buildings and Architecture Office, along with Evelyn Cayat of the City Planning and Development Office, for clearing the way for SM to get away with the murder of trees including circumventing our own zoning laws. 

3. The City Executive, led by Mayor Mauricio Domogan, he who merely said, when asked by the protesters for his help, "I cannot do anything." 

4. The Baguio City Council, or majority of its members during the term 2010-2013, who could not even hide their bias for SM and spent most of the time during that City Council hearing defending SM and castigating the protesters.

5. Members of the judiciary and the bar, from the aforementioned Associate Justices to the late Judge Antonio Estevez to the Fortun and ACCRA Law Offices and even lawyers from the Solicitor General's office who are supposed to protect the interest of the state and therefore the interest of the people of the Philippines who used their skills and talents to enable SM to destroy.

6. Members of the so-called Fourth Estate, supposed guardians of the truth, who willingly sang SM's songs, forwarded their half-truths and outright lies for free movie passes and a gadget or two. 

You, all of you, have all joined hands to destroy Baguio forever. You spat on the faces of every single one of the thousands of members of the community who wanted nothing more than to defend the integrity, heritage, beauty and natural environment of Baguio City. Shame on you. 

Our environmental laws are designed to be circumvented - that's how SM City Baguio got away with murder. 

And to SM? A while back, they sent their emissaries led by Vice President Bien Mateo to present what was supposedly a re-designed expansion plan. In that meeting, attended by some members of the protest movement including Atty. Chris Donaal, Ms. Glo Abaeo, Mr. Gideon Omero, Mr. Nelson Alabanza, myself, et al, they said that out of all the remaining trees on Luneta Hill, maybe only less than ten will be affected with this new plan. Last night, 60 trees were cut. 

Liars. 

As for me, SM just proved once again that they will do everything they can for more money. This kind of greed is what's preventing this country from moving forward. 

So they've cut a hundred trees on Luneta Hill, and a friend asked, "what's the point now of appealing the decision of the Court of Appeals all the way to the Supreme Court when most of the trees are already gone?"

Around 90 trees remain on Luneta Hill, and they are still worth fighting for.