Of Hypocrites and Brecht

“Where are the people who spearheaded the protest against SM City Baguio?” Someone asked in his status update on Facebook. “Hypocrites,” one commented.

This is in reference to the hundreds of pine trees that were felled on Mt. Sto. Tomas, in a property allegedly connected to the recently-elected congressman of Baguio, Nic Aliping, and the rally that was held a few days ago. The gathering did not have the numbers that the first protest rally against SM City Baguio’s expansion plan had. Hence, perhaps, the seething remark.

Sure, some of them were there during some of the protest actions then. But they were not there when we had to hold vigils for nights on end watching the trees on Luneta Hill, or during that confrontation between dozens of SM’s security personnel and workers, backed by the local police, when we learned that they’ve began removing trees from the area despite the issuance of Temporary Environmental Protection Order from the court, or that week a group of youthful environmental advocates stood on Session Road from sun up to sun down to gather signatures supporting the cause, or during the marathon hearings that drained the group not only physically, mentally but also financially having to dig into personal funds to be able to photocopy legal documents or have lunch at all.

And not all rallies against SM City Baguio had the numbers, I remember one particular night when we held one right across the expansion site where there were only less than a dozen of us carrying a streamer that said “all we are saying, give trees a chance.”

Sure, those protest actions were all over the news at the time, mostly from the point of view of SM City Baguio. But admittedly, that was not the doing of the protesters, it was SM’s immense public relations machinery that actually kept the issue in the news with their incessant justifications.

But I just hope they realize that it took way more than rallies to forward the cause then, and it would take more than rallies to forward this cause now.

During times when, from the thousands who marched down Session Road to the hundreds who joined tree-planting activities and concerts advocating the cause, we were left with just a handful of people, we didn’t whine about who’s not there, we instead linked arms and got strength and courage from who’s there at all.

We condemn this latest attack on the city’s natural environment, even more so now than during SM’s attempt to remove 182 trees from Luneta Hill for a parking building, since now it’s coming directly from City Hall. Trees on Mt. Sto. Tomas that provide much needed water to the residents of Baguio are being cut to make way for a resort, allegedly owned by the brother of the very person that’s supposed to represent the people of Baguio (and indeed their welfare) on the one hand, and on the other, the Mayor’s proposal to dig up Melvin Jones Grounds, which currently serves the residents as a park, an aquifer that stores and absorbs excess water run-off that provides us with both water and protection from floods, for a parking facility.

And if all we’re prepared to do is join one rally then whine on Facebook, then this is a lost cause. So instead of asking for the whereabouts of the people who spearheaded the protest against SM, why not spearhead this one? 

Take it from Brecht, in this scene from his play, The Life of Galileo:

Andrea: Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero.
Galileo: No, Andrea: Unhappy is the land that needs a hero.