Group threatens boycott of SM mall

Friday, January 13, 2012

OCCUPY and boycott.

This is the battle cry of protesters against the planned earth-balling of 172 trees in Luneta Hill as their numbers continue to grow and are on the brink of occupying and staging a protest rally against retail giant SM.

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A group of local artists are now calling to occupy the road going to the mall starting tomorrow, Saturday, until the mass rally called for by Cordillera Ecological Center Director Michael Bengwayan, the lead petitioner, on January 20.

Local artist Florenda Pedro said they have been calling students and concerned citizens to join them in their cause in occupying the mall entrance in protest of the mall chain’s plan to earth-ball trees to give way for its expansion.

She said their preliminary plan involves the group staging peaceful protests in the road surrounding the mall by playing of gongs, performance poetry, dance and music jam convincing consumers to rethink their decision to patronize the mall.

The protest stemmed from the petition of Bengwayan accusing the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and city officials from failing to protect the pine and alnus trees inside the mall premises.

Since the online petition started Monday, some 2,000 concerned individuals affixed their support to the cause which Bengwayan claimed will be sent to President Benigno Aquino III, Presidential Adviser for Environmental Protection Nereus Acosta and Environment Secretary Ramon Paje calling to stop the mall’s expansion.

The area where the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) issued a tree cutting and earth-balling permit October 27 last year and eventually issued an Environmental Compliance Certificate will be the site for the proposed mall expansion.

Bengwayan claimed this move by the mall, city and environment officials is unacceptable, and callously insensitive to the importance of trees to the environment and ecology.

“This only shows the DENR does not appreciate and is insensitive to the contributions of these trees which have grown in view of the global warming and environmental threats. By issuing a tree cutting permit, DENR is not worthy of its existence by ruling in favor of tree cutting against trees already established,” his petition said.

DENR Regional Executive Director Clarence Baguilat, meanwhile, defended his agency claiming the tree cutting is allowed even with Executive Order 23 or the national log ban in effect as the pine trees involved were planted inside the private property of the mall and thus exempted from the log ban.

The environment official also stressed they have also obliged SM to plant at least 30 trees for every earth-balled tree as replacement.

However, Bengwayan, who organized the Cordillera Pine Tree Festival last month, said uprooted or earth-balled pine trees above 10 years old have a very low survival rate when transplanted as exemplified in previous earth-balling activities inside Camp John Hay.

The mayor, denying involvement in the tree cutting, said Environment Secretary Ramon Paje allowed the tree cutting while the sale of the Luneta Hill property was signed by President Benigno Aquino III.

Meanwhile, in an interview with SM Baguio PR Manager Karren Padilla Nobres last Wednesday, she claimed protesters are misled by wrong information being spread over social networking sites.

Nobres said there is no truth to reports the mall expansion will include the Governor Pack Road terminal as this is still thoroughly being studied.

This is despite earlier pronouncements of Mayor Mauricio Domogan, saying the development will include the construction of more parking spaces and a centralized bus terminal for the city.

She said SM will expand and renovate the current mall consisting of seven levels, open-air retail, dining and entertainment destination relying exclusively on natural ventilation.

The expansion involves an additional 76,000-square-meter floor area in addition to the existing mall of 106,000 square meters, aiming to be the first mall in the country to be certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, the internationally recognized standard for green building design and construction developed by the United States Green Building Council.

She also emphasized there will be no trees cut during the expansion as the 172 trees will be earth-balled.

Aside from the environment-friendly architecture SM will utilize for the project, she said this will also add income to the city and provide additional employment opportunities for Baguio residents.

The 42 Alnus japonica trees will be transferred carefully in other vacant lots inside mall property, while the pine trees will be earth-balled and transferred to the DENR compound in Pacdal.

The PR manager also claimed the management knows the survival rate of earth-balled trees which is why they have also exceeded the national standard for replacing pine trees by planting 30 pine trees for every affected tree and as part of their aid to the National Greening Program of the country vows to seriously participate in more tree planting activities which they have already done in the past.

The national standard of replacing cut or earth-balled trees is 20 planted seedlings for every affected tree.

The mall representative said they have been trying to reach Bengwayan through his mobile phone but her calls were dropped. Over at social networking site Facebook, she was blocked by the latter when she tried to communicate SM’s side.

She added mall authorities are willing to have a dialogue with petitioners to clarify things and explain their mall expansion project which she said have passed through the scrutiny of environment authorities, acquired proper permits and planned to be environment-friendly.