Where is Save 182?

A friend sent this to me one morning. Why did I bother to blur the photo and his name, really, when it was posted on a social networking site for public consumption.

I wanted to ignore it, I have actually, coming from another netizen who not only asked where we were but even went as far as calling us hypocrites. Ouch. Then a scion of a prominent lawyer in Baguio came out swinging in a letter that was shared online... his father, among the "true leaders" of Baguio, according to him, wanted to help the legal team that filed a case against SM, et al, but was rejected. He went on to belittle the lawyers who worked pro bono, and hard, to save the trees on Luneta Hill.

Never mind that his true leader of a father was rejected more than once by the Baguio electorate, but really, you should have been there...

"Kasi walang photo-ops..." said one referring to Save 182's alleged absence amid the ongoing protest actions against the cutting of trees on Mt. Cabuyao.

So, where's Save 182?

First, who's Save 182?

A lot of the people involved in the protest then were people I met for the first time like the group of young advocates like Calypso, Dumay, Ivy, Richard, Jarlaw, et al.

Michael Bengwayan, I had no idea who he was, but I fully supported his call for signatures when he launched that very first online petition. When he called for a rally, I called him to ask if there was anything needed for the rally, such as a sound system. We did provide that during the first rally.

The members of our artist collective, Open Space, of course I knew them well. Ethan who actually owned the sound system that we abused at the time, his wife Emerald along with Eunice, Delo, Ryle, Roman, Rose, Cholo, Ro, Jeff, Jerrick, Jojo and the rest who were there at one point or another and in the case of some, the whole time...

Cheryl Daytec-Yangot of course I have heard of before (who from Baguio hasn't, really?), but only knew her, before this, as (pardon me, Chyt) a lawyer and the wife of politician Leandro Yangot. She headed our legal team and was the one responsible for bringing the cause to international rock star Sting's attention, who cancelled his concert at the SM Mall of Asia and moved it to Araneta Coliseum.

I knew Chris Donaal and Go Abaeo before when we helped them with a concert at the Melvin Jones Football Grounds (oh, by the way, where were you when we were protesting the planned concreting of the grounds and gating of Burnham Park? Anyway...). I hardly knew Gideon Omero except as a regular face I occasionally bump into at Luisa's Cafe. Their organization, the Cordillera Global Network, spearheaded the filing the case against SM.

Willy Alangui and Vangie Ram I knew as teachers at UP Baguio.

Who else... Ellen Lao I only knew as a member of the family that owned Tiong San, and the first time we actually met was by mobile phone when she asked me to take care of the empty containers of water that she lent to the concert. Marie Balangue along with (Tita) Sonn Fenrnadez and (Tita) Guia Limpin I also met for the first time during those first few meetings at her place. Andrea I got to know better whenever she whipped up a wonderful meal out of whatever's available.

There were the teachers too, the students from the different universities and schools, the religious.

What's in a name

One afternoon, after another grueling week of protest actions, and after being asked repeatedly what the group was called, we decided to just refer to the movement, not the people, not the group, as Project: Save 182, or Save 182. There was never any attempt to "organize," we knew then that we differed on so many other things: political affiliations, religious persuasions, etc., so we focused the on the one thing that surely held us together, united us, which was one specific issue: the 182 trees on Luneta Hill and all that they stood for.

So, where's Save 182? 

While the case is still pending with the Court of Appeals, SM has since re-designed their expansion plan. That too has caused differing opinions among the protesters for while some of us welcomed the fact that despite having no legal impediment to their expansion plan as it was originally designed, SM adjusted their design that would leave more than 120 out of the 133 or so remaining trees at the site untouched, others believed didn't think it was enough (and even accused some of us of "selling out").

So, really, where's Save 182? First, Save 182 is not an organization. So what is it? Call it a movement, a concept, an ideal, a cause. Where is it? It is in every single tree on Luneta Hill that was saved from SM's backhoes, in every single person who was made more aware about the importance of taking care of our environment, in every single environmental protest action it inspired all over the country and indeed in other parts of the world, heck, it is even in every single Sting fan who had to get a refund and buy a new ticket when he moved his concert to a different venue to support the cause.

Seriously, where is Save 182? It's here, in our hearts and minds and, with all your impassioned statements online and offline, apparently, in yours too.