PROTESTS
[PHOTO - URBAN FOREST
During the world observance of Earth Day, a man takes refuge under the trees of
Arroceros Forest Park amid searing heat in Manila. The 2.2-hectare park,
considered the city's "last lung," is home to about 60 tree species and a small
population of birds belonging to six different species. RICHARD A. REYES]
MANILA,
APRIL 24, 2012
(INQUIRER) By Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Tonette
Orejas Inquirer Central Luzon, Inquirer Visayas -
Protests marked Earth Day on Sunday, with environmentalists in Pampanga
painting the faces of President Benigno Aquino III and other officials on trees
set to be cut for a road expansion.
In Panay, the event saw the culmination of a 822-kilometer caravan against
mining on the island. The caravan passed by 48 towns and three cities—nine towns
in Aklan, 10 towns and a city in Capiz, 17 towns and two cities in Iloilo, and
12 towns in Antique.
Elsewhere, environmentalists held a concert, a summit for sharing successful
conservation measures, a clean-up drive and tree planting.
In the City of San Fernando in Pampanga, some 60 members of Kayanakan
Manalakaran (Youth with Conviction) and Save the Trees Coalition, drew human
figures and faces of Mr. Aquino and local officials on 200 of 576 trees to
protest a proposal to cut these for the expansion of the Manila North Road.
The protest began from St. Scholastica's College in Barangay (village) San
Agustin to Greenfields in Barangay De la Paz, covering a stretch of 7 kilometers
of road lined with acacia. The trees are estimated to be more than 50 years old.
The late Pampanga Governor Rafael Lazatin and youth leaders planted the
trees, said his son, Pampanga Representative Carmelo Lazatin.
Rochie Pangilinan, the Kayanakan Manalakaran president, said the other trees
would be painted with human figures and faces of the President and government
officials during weekends.
Paje, Pineda
Mr. Aquino was drawn with his eyeglasses on and signature yellow ribbon.
Faces of Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, Pampanga Governor Lilia Pineda and
San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez were also painted on the trees.
Pangilinan said the faces of the officials were painted there to "tell the
people who are accountable to the public in case the trees are felled."
"We also want to remind the people that if you kill a tree, you kill life,"
he said. "It's not too late to save the remaining 576 trees."
The Department of Public Works and Highways has been holding consultations on
the proposal since March. The agency cut more than 100 trees in 2010, stopping
only when local artists painted human figures on the trees and activists kept
vigil to stop work crews from cutting them.
"[The government] must stop with its foolishness and murder of trees," said
Cecile Yumul, the spokesperson of Save the Trees Coalition.
"If officials care a bit to get out of their air-conditioned rooms and cars,
perhaps they'll feel how hot or humid it has been since the trees were cut,"
Yumul said.
"If they can't read the signs of Mother Nature, they're going to do us a lot
of injustice because we deserve a clean environment," she added.
Raising alarm
The caravan against large-scale mining started on Friday and ended in a brief
program at the provincial capitol grounds on Bonifacio Drive in Iloilo City
after passing the provinces of Iloilo, Antique, Aklan and Capiz.
"The caravan was a symbolic message to raise alarm against the destruction of
communities and contamination of the environment due to large-scale mining,"
said Ma. Geobelyn Lopez, the secretary general of Madia-as Ecological Movement.
It was held "to let communities that have spontaneously risen up and fight
against mining companies know that they are not alone," Lopez said.
The caravan was also organized by Visayan Coalition for the Ecology and
Defend Patrimony.
Warm welcome
"The warm welcome by church groups, local officials and communities opposed
to mining shows concern of the people on the unabated mining applications and
operations in various areas," Lopez said.
On Panay and Guimaras islands, 172,764.26 hectares of the total land area of
1,229,704 ha were covered by approved or pending mining applications, Lopez
said, citing data from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
Antimining advocates have called for the scrapping of the Philippine Mining
Act of 1995 and a moratorium on the processing and approval of mining
applications.
Seven vehicles
Around 100 participants in seven vehicles left Iloilo City after an
ecumenical Mass celebrated by priests and pastors on Friday morning.
The caravan arrived at noon in the capital town of San Jose in Antique where
they were hosted by the San Jose Diocesan Social Action Center.
In the afternoon, the caravan was met in Barbaza town by members of the
United Church of Christ in the Philippines, who joined the participants to
Pandan and Libertad towns.
The dioceses of San Jose, Antique and various groups in the province are
opposing mining activities in Libertad, especially in areas within or near the
12,009-ha North Western Panay Peninsula, a protected area.
A short program was held in Libertad before the caravan proceeded to Malay
town, Aklan. The participants spent the night in Ibajay town, also in Aklan.
Kalibo, Roxas City
On Saturday, the caravan proceed to Aklan's capital town, Kalibo, for a short
program at Pastrana Park before proceeding to Roxas City in Capiz.
The caravan left Roxas City early Saturday afternoon, passing the mining
areas in Maayon, Pontevedra and Pilar towns in Capiz.
The group arrived in Estancia town in Iloilo in evening where the caravan
contingents spent overnight.
On the caravan's third day on Sunday, the contingents left Estancia in the
morning passing the Iloilo towns of Batad, San Dionisio, Sara, Lemery,
Concepcion and Ajuy before arriving in Barotac Viejo town by noon. It ended in
Iloilo City in the afternoon.
Creek cleanup
In Angeles City, the Holy Rosary Parish and Subli, a coalition of local
governments, public agencies, nongovernment organizations and private firms,
held a free concert on Sunday night.
The parish, led by Pampanga Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, has
restored the Sapang Balen Creek through weekly clean-up drives and
awareness-raising activities since three years ago.
In Baguio, various groups pushed for traditional knowledge as a possible cure
for the city's problems with garbage and a diminishing tree cover at the first
Baguio People's Environmental Summit at the University of the Philippines (UP)
Baguio.
Women's organizations, activists and a Baguio university coalition shared
case studies of successful river rehabilitation, recycling and tree-conservation
programs that worked.
Alice Sobreviñas, a Catholic nun, said old resource management concepts often
resulted in "no waste at all," so government should reflect on practical
solutions such as vermiculture, a gardening method in which earthworms converts
organic waste materials into compost.
Bailili River rehab
Baguio and nearby La Trinidad town in Benguet are cooperating to rehabilitate
the Bailili River, which they share, said Dr. Aurea Marie Sandoval of the
Benguet State University (BSU). The BSU and UP Baguio are among the universities
working to restore the river.
Among the summit participants were members of groups who protested the earth
balling of 182 trees to make way for the expansion of SM City Baguio.
Michael Bengwayan, who mounted the online campaign against the tree transfer,
reflected on how other Baguio watersheds continued to lose trees due to forest
fires and the absence of sustained care.
In Nueva Ecija, several youth organizations and NGOs held a clean-up drive
and tree planting in Cabanatuan City and in a remote village of Palayan City.
They urged the public to fight smoke belching, illegal logging and
indiscriminate use of plastic.
Morito Tatel, the secretary general of Young Men's Christian
Association-Nueva Ecija, said the province's youth were campaigning for a clean
environment.
During the Cabanatuan cleanup, they displayed placards that called on people
and concerned officials to manage wastes properly, save energy, arrest smoke
belchers and stop illegal logging.
Later, members of Koalisiyon ng mga Makakalikasang Novo Ecijanos planted
trees at the Bacao reforestation project in Sitio Bacao, Palayan. With reports from Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon; Vincent
Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon; and Felipe Celino, Inquirer Visayas
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS
ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
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