BAGUIO CITY — Vista Residences, Inc., owned by the Villar-led Vista Land, fell 54 old-growth trees to give way to a high-rise condominium in Barangay Outlook Drive, Baguio City.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources issued the Special Private Land Timber Permit CAR-58-2020 on May 4. This authorized Vista Residences to cut 53 Benguet Pine and a Norfolk Pine in the said area. The validity of the permit will end on July 15, 2020.
According to DENR, the permit is compliant with forestry laws, rules, and regulations. DENR ordered the real estate company to replace the fallen trees with 5,400 seedlings of Benguet Pine trees. The net volume of the 54 naturally grown pine trees is 27.52 cubic meters.
Former senator Manuel Villar, Jr., husband of Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources chair Cynthia Villar, is the Board Chairman of Vista Lands. Their son, Manuel Paolo A. Villar, is the president and chief executive officer of the company.
The cutting down of the 54 trees started on June 24, more than a month after DENR issued the permits. The agency also issued an Environmental Compliance Certificate in 2017. DENR records show that Vista Residences applied for a private timberland permit in 2018.
The barangay issued a certificate in September 2018, and the mayor’s office cleared the project in October 2018.
Sad over the cutting
“We are saddened because we feel it a big blow to our regreening master plan amidst our request to the Office of the President for a tree cutting moratorium,” Mayor Benjamin Magalong said.
The mayor expressed his displeasure in a statement posted on the city’s official information site. In a meeting with DENR and Vista Residences on June 25, the mayor asked the developer to double the number of seedlings to replace the fallen trees.
In 2018, a report by the Philippine News Agency quoted the local chief executive, saying that President Duterte already approved tree cutting moratorium in the city. The president has yet to issue an executive order to make the moratorium a reality.
“While the proposed moratorium has been taken over by this health crisis, we need to follow this up to ensure that our remaining trees will be preserved,” Magalong said.
TREE KILLERS. Baguio residents were appalled at the apparent disregard of Vista Residences, Inc. and DENR for the environment. Jaja Marquez exposed and filmed the cutting of fully grown Benguet pine trees in her FB account. Photo by JJ Landingin.
Protests against the cutting
In an online signature campaign, Michael Bengwayan, Ph.D., appealed to the mayor to stop the cutting of the trees.
“The importance of the trees is priceless,” he said.
Bengwayan said the 54 trees could supply the oxygen needs of at least 2,016 people and sequester 10 tons of carbon dioxide. He added that the trees help reduce global warming, recharge brooks and springs, prevent water run-off, and serve as buffer zones.
Baguio netizens also vented their anger over what they perceive as a blatant disregard of nature and clamor of the residents to preserve the remaining trees in the city.
“We are supposed to be healing the land, why wound it anew? And 54 trees is a lot. You might as well have razed a fire that burned the forest,” a Baguio netizen posted on social media.
“Throughout the years, a lot of private-owned companies have already made it possible to cut down numerous trees. This is done for the sake of erecting buildings that take up wide spaces of land that used to be home to hundreds of trees. This concerns us, citizens, knowing that Baguio is a place abundant with natural resources and part of what makes this city beautiful are our trees responsible for producing fresh and clean air,” read another Baguio resident’s open letter to Magalong.”
Baguio can no longer be Baguio if we continue to tolerate these types of activities that would require tree cutting. Stopping it now would lessen any chances of experiencing natural disasters in the future and heighten our future youth’s chances to experience a beautiful Baguio the same way we are experiencing it now,” the letter ended. # nordis.net
