ENVIRONMENTALIST and missionary Ellen Trazo urged developers to observe the 10 percent green space especially in subdivisions in Davao City.
During the Habi at Kape on Wednesday, February 22, at a mall in this city, Trazo said in her residence in Indangan, some subdivisions are cutting down trees, causing snake dispersal to the subdivision's compounds and shortage of water.
She said trees were cut to convert it into more house units.
"In Indangan, they are really subdivisions cutting all the trees. Around 57-hectare subdivision. We only have a two-hectare land but we preserve the other one by not cutting trees," she said, sharing her action towards her advocacy for the proper implementation of the green spaces in the city.
Last January 2016, the Davao City Council decided to remove the 10 percent green space requirement for real estate developers and to only incorporate it into the 30 percent open spaces for public areas like roads, chapels, and other community spaces.
But President Rodrigo Duterte, former mayor of Davao City, vetoed the ordinance saying the amended version was “vague and ambiguous, prejudicial to public interest and an exercise of legislative power in ultra veris (beyond the powers).”
Trazo, aside from being the Agri-Forest Incharge of Ecovillage, also serves as the president of Amanda Seva Mission where she had known Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez.