PHNO-HL: BLOG WATCH: MY LAST VIEW OF THE PINE TREES AT SM BAGUIO

BLOG WATCH: MY LAST VIEW OF THE PINE
TREES AT SM BAGUIO

[PHOTO - There is not much
pine trees in this Baguio picture, houses fill the mountain]
BAGUIO CITY, APRIL 21, 2012 (PINOYTREES BLOG) BY METSCAPERS
POSTED APRIL 12, 2012 - I was in Baguio last weekend and
passed by SM.
I took pictures of the famous pine trees to be cut. But I did not
realize that it was actually their last day of existence before they were cut
down for the mall extension.
I figured at least I have a posterity pic of the now infamous pine
trees. They are now immortal not only in my photo but also because of the deed
everyone is sad about.
A day before they were cut down
But this fact is not only true in SM Baguio. The tree cuttings is only much
celebrated because of the number of trees fell all at one time. But if you look
at Baguio itself, it is now much different from the Baguio I saw when I was 8
years old, my first time to the city of pine trees.
Then, Baguio still smelled of pine tree scent. Now 30 years after, Baguio is
much changed because of congestion and industry. I could not discern the smell
the pine trees anymore.
In place of the many fallen pine trees and other tree species, I could see
metal house roofs and concrete structures. I could estimate that was far more
than the 170 SM Baguio obliterated.
But these ones fell in silence. The demise of the pine trees, or even
Baguio's original vegetation, is everyone elses and not an SM monopoly. SM has a
big share of the blame right now but everyone who let it reach this state is
responsible.


[PHOTO - The infamous SM pine trees]
THE BLOG OWNER AND AUTHOR: Hi! My name is
Patrick Gozon and I am a plant enthusiast. I did my graduate thesis on the use
of Philippine native trees and shrubs in landscape architecture. I hope to share
with you interesting facts I learned and collected about Philippine native
flora.EMAIL: metscaper@yahoo.com<metscaper@yahoo.com>
FROM BLOG SECTION OF ABS-CBN
Henry Sy, Sr. would have stopped cutting Baguio's pine trees
By Raïssa Robles Posted at 04/12/2012 10:18 AM | Updated as of
04/12/2012 4:44 PM
(Editor's intro: Raissa, foreign correspondent for South China Morning
Post and Radio Netherlands, is an independent blogger.)

[PHOTO- Raïssa Robles]
Having watched SM grow from one Manila shoe store into a giant conglomerate
today, I believe the founder Henry Sy Sr. would have stopped tree-cutting as
soon as he saw the sharply negative reaction of Baguio residents.
I believe this because it was not all business with Mr Sy, who willingly
spent millions just to house a giant ice skating rink inside his mall in this
tropical country.
I've noticed a sea change, though, after his children took over. They are not
that hands-on like their father, who took the trouble to walk through his giant
malls every day looking for things to fix here and there.
That was how I got to talk to Mr Sy – by approaching him in one of his long
walks in SM Megamall in late 1997. I introduced myself as a reporter and asked
him how long he thought the global financial crisis would last for the
Philippines. He said, well into the next millennium – about four or five years.
He was right.
Now that I recall, no bodyguard had stopped me from approaching him although
I assumed they must just be about somewhere because it was also the height of
the kidnapping crisis in the Philippines.
Mr Sy is now in a wheelchair and his children are running the business. Of
course the takeover of the new generation has led to the influx of more
professional managers unrelated by blood to the family owners, and to a rapid
depersonalization of the business.
The move has enabled the SM group to grow by leaps and bounds but it could
also be a source of weakness. And that is seen in the way the SM Group is now
mishandling the issue over the pine trees inside its shopping complex in Baguio
City.
Read full article Disclaimer: The views in this blog are those of the
blogger and do not necessarily reflect the views of ABS-CBN Corp.
HEADLINE NEWS FROM MANILA TIMES LAST
WEEK
SM-Baguio pine trees get 3-day reprieve Published
: Thursday, April 12, 2012 00:00 Article Views : 491 Written by : JAMES
KONSTANTIN GALVEZ AND THOM PICAÑA
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Wednesday directed
officials of the DENR-Cordillera Administrative Region to comply with a court
order stopping the planned tree cutting, earth-balling and uprooting of trees
from the grounds of SM Baguio.
SM City Baguio management, on the other hand, issued a statement that said
they respect the court order and added that they are mandated to plant 50,000
trees for SM-Baguio.
Regional Trial Court branch 5 Judge Cleto Villacorta 3rd issued a 72-hour
Tepo against SM Tuesday afternoon as a handful of protesters held a rally in
front of SM-Baguio.
"I already issued an order to our regional officials in Baguio City to comply
with the order of Judge Villacorta. As we talk, our DENR-CAR must have already
served its directive enjoining the management of SM Baguio to strictly comply
with the terms and conditions of the TEPO," DENR chief Ramon Paje said.
Paje acknowledged that the issuance of the TEPO was in accordance with the
rules of procedure on environmental cases drawn by the Supreme Court to enforce
environmental laws.
The TEPO also ordered that the case be referred back to the regular
environmental court handling the case.
As of press time, 40 Alnus and one Benguet pine tree have already been
reported cut or earth-balled from Luneta Hill.
Explains the mall managers: "SM Baguio has started the procedure of
replanting the trees that will be affected by its expansion. The mall expansion
is a spin off from the top soil erosion concerns of the mall for many years for
now that might eventually affect the structural of the existing building"
They added that technical consultants exhausted all efforts to remedy the
problem through ripraps and compaction but the problems persists. In order to
permanently solve this, a retaining wall structure needs to be constructed to
protect the building.
"This will entail excavation that will affect trees in the area. SM is taking
all measures to relocate them," they explained.
A total of 182 such trees has been inventoried for cutting, earth-balling or
transplantation from the site to give way to a proposed expansion project.
Militant group National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) vowed to
block plans by the mall's management to pursue the tree-cutting, saying that the
expansion plan would only be profitable for SM and that the protection of
environment would invaluable and beneficial to more people.
PNoy government approved the uprooting of pine trees in
Baguio City April 14, 2012 By Ilda- FROM THE GETREALPOST
BLOG
So I heard there was a 125-strong flash mob assembled at six
locations to "occupy" SM Megamall last week.
There could be more organized protests to come in the following days until
the whole issue fizzles out and goes back into the Filipino people's
unconsciousness. I noticed that not only is rallying in vogue in the country
with "coño" kids said to be joining in, they also annoyingly refer to their
activity as "occupy" this and that.
As most people know, the term was first coined by international protesters —
calling themselves the "Occupy Movement" to protest social and economic
inequality.
You can count on Filipinos to not only use borrowed concepts from western
societies but also to wear it out 'til it comes across like a tattered shirt
that has lost its luster. The occupy movement in the Philippines particularly
the one directed at SM management is certainly one that is lost in translation.

The protesters who rally in SM malls were expressing their objection against
SM mall management's plans to cut 182 or so trees in its branch in Baguio City –
a city that is also known as the City of Pines.
But wait a minute…doesn't SM actually own the property where the Pine trees
are located?
Technically, they can do whatever they want with the land and the trees
within the bounds of the law. So therefore, even if environmentalists have
successfully secured a temporary environmental protection order (TEPO) from the
court to stop the cutting, uprooting or earth-balling of the pine trees,
protesters are actually too late in expressing their indignation over SM's
plans.
Apart from being late in their so-called Occupy Movement, the protesters are
holding their illegal assembly in the wrong place. They should be occupying the
Baguio City municipal hall because it was the city government who sold the land
to the mall chain in the first place. To say that it is only SM management who
is at fault is wrong.
As a corporation, SM is just doing what is in their nature to do, which is to
expand and focus on their bottom line. We can't expect much from corporations
much less expect them to care about what ordinary folks think.
But we should expect a lot from our government. What was the Baguio City
government thinking when they sold the land to SM? They sure weren't thinking
about the impact of the sale to the environment and its people.
Baguio city Mayor Mauricio Domogan should not be off the hook on this one.
It's not like the mayor hasn't seen or been to any SM mall. He therefore has an
idea of the kind of structures the retail giant have on most of their
properties. Did he inform the people of his plans to sell the property to the
retail giant by way of public notice?
Did he ask SM management for a blue print of their construction plans
including what they will be doing to the land currently occupied by the pine
trees? Moreover, did the Mayor give out a copy of these plans to the citizens of
Baguio city for review?
Failing all that, the citizens of Baguio and all the genuine and
pseudo-environmentalists should be cross at the government agencies involved in
granting approval for this project not SM.
In a news report, Mayor Domogan even said, "the development plan of the
retail giant was approved by the City Government as no less than President
Benigno Aquino III signed the deed of sale of the Luneta Hill property."
This fiasco, it seems, goes all the way to the top.
In the same news item, the mayor claimed that it was the "Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) who granted permission to SM Baguio to
cut 172 trees in the mall's property facing Governor Pack Road".
In his defense, DENR Regional Executive Director Clarence Baguilat justified
their decision by saying that there was "no violation of Executive Order 23 as
the 139 pine trees in the mall property are planted trees within a private
property excluded from the log ban." Ayun naman pala.
I wonder if the protesters are even aware of this information. If they were,
they would not be "occupying" the malls at all.
You could disagree with DENR's statement and say that SM is violating the log
ban but you cannot deny that they are doing it in their own property. And
whatever they are doing, they have secured permission from the government to do
so. Yes, the selling of the land to SM for their mall was already ill-conceived
to begin with; but denying their plans for parking provisions would be
irresponsible at best and could become the city's second mistake at worst.
If the mall management is not allowed to construct their parking lot, where
do these protesters expect the mall shoppers to park their vehicles when they go
to the mall? Surely without any additional parking, the traffic on the
ill-planned Governor Park Road would be even more chaotic. The uprooting of the
pine trees is said to make way for the mall's expansion, which will include a
centralized parking and bus terminal in the area.
And since the mall is already there, what they plan to do with the land after
the trees have been removed can only solve the potential traffic problem
shopping centers cause in the long run.
What I am trying to say is this: since no less than a massive earthquake can
destroy the government approved mall, the people might as well allow the SM
management to proceed in completing their plan to build a structure for the
private and public vehicles to be used by people who will patronize the said
mall.
After all, this is not the first mall SM has constructed. They know and can
foresee the traffic problems their buildings can cause. They are simply
addressing trouble the influx of people who will patronize their mall can cause
in the future. This is how confident they are that, after the dust has settled,
the people of Baguio would come in droves for the mall's first three-day SM
sale.
In crying foul of what SM is doing, the protesters merely make themselves
look even more ignorant of what the people around the country should have done.
It's not like SM is the cause of the environmental disaster that is just waiting
to happen in Baguio City and other parts of the country. In fact, SM management
will not construct in an area without consulting experts if the land is
conducive to their plans.
And the college students who have screen-printed coordinated shirts for the
photo ops have no idea that SM management operate with very few stones left
unturned. Meaning, a retail giant such as SM would have covered all their bases
even before they broke ground. Their statement below explains their stand:
The project is designed to receive a LEED Gold Rating, which requires the
implementation and documentation of achievement of a minimum of 60 of the listed
points, which will be subject to the review and approval of the Green Building
Rating," the retail giant said in a statement."
LEED is the international standard for green building design and construction
developed by the US Green Building Council. The earth balling of trees to make
way for the mall's expansion is also done in "close consultations" with the DENR
and "other environmental experts," said SM.
Pardon the pun but SM management is not the root of the problem here. Rather,
it is the government and their lack of coordination or consultation with the
people that is. As usual, the protesters are barking up the wrong tree and are
decades too late to protect Baguio City.
FROM PHILSTAR
New permit allows Baguio mall to uproot 182 trees
Philstar – Tue, Apr 17, 2012

[PHOTO - BAGUIO, THE CITY OF PINES]
MANILA, Philippines - The government has revised the environment permit it
issued to SM Baguio and allowed the mall to uproot 182 trees that would be
covered by its expansion plan.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo said representatives of
SM, state agencies and non-government groups agreed on the revision of the
permit during a meeting in Camp Crame in Quezon City yesterday.
The previous permit allows the company to earth-ball only 142 trees and cut
the remaining 40 in a 1.1-hectare property.
"The modification (of the permit) will give the 40 trees a chance to live,"
Robredo said in a press briefing.
The new permit also requires SM to plant 50,000 trees in three years, instead
of only 5,000 trees as provided under a previous permit.
Robredo said the trees may be planted in Baguio and Benguet. He said he is
optimistic that SM would comply with the conditions set by the new permit.
Environment groups and activists have criticized the management of SM Baguio
for its supposed plan to cut 182 trees to expand the mall.
The activists are now asking the public to oppose SM Baguio's plan through
information campaigns in social networking sites.
SM Group, however, denied that it would cut the trees and claimed that it
would merely earth-ball or transfer the 182 trees to another area.
Robredo said environment groups and local government officials will verify
the claim of the SM management on Wednesday.
He said failure to satisfy the requirements of the new permit would lead to
its revocation.
SM Group officials, representatives of four non-government organizations,
local officials and experts from University of the Philippines- Los Baños
attended the meeting. - By Alexis Romero (Philstar News
Service, www.philstar.com)








BAGUIO, THE CITY OF PINES

SM BAGUIO TO DESTROY 172 TREES FOR MALL
EXPANSION

PROTESTS




Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi

© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved





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