SM City Baguio cannot and must not be trusted, there are 182 reasons why

Earth-balling: the process of moving a tree by digging out the earth and the roots in a circular shape, leaving most of the root system undisturbed and intact. This makes it easier for the tree to adjust to a new location. - Rappler 

None of the 182 pine trees ever had a chance. 

We, members of the theater group Open Space Productions, started out as volunteers for the planned rally on January 20, 2012, and soon found ourselves at the forefront of the movement to protest the killing of 182 trees on Luneta Hill for SM City Baguio's expansion plan. 

I had to go through my archives for articles I wrote for this blog and my column in a local paper then to help jog my memory, it's been eight years since Ethan and I lugged our equipment to Malcolm Square to set-up a basic light and sound system for the rally, while our colleagues joined the march down Session Road.      

The movement's argument was simple: whatever SM City Baguio planned was not worth the lives of the 182 pine trees in that forested side of Luneta Hill.

SM City Baguio, not expecting the snowball effect that the January 20 rally would have, found itself fumbling in the weeks that followed, which had them forwarding different rationales to counter the movement's, these are some I remember:

1. They're building a parking facility to solve Baguio's traffic problem and address climate change.

When the protest movement pointed out the flaws in this argument, citing, among many other adverse impact their project would have, the probability of ground instability, increased risk of landslides and increased water runoff towards lower lying areas and with that flooding, they proclaimed:

2. The structure they wanted to build was a necessity as it would act as a retaining wall that would prevent landslides in the area.

People in Baguio, and the rest of the Cordillera, know every well that vegetation, trees in particular, significantly help in soil stabilization and the argument that removing those 182 trees to allow their expansion plan would prevent landslides just did not, no pun intended, hold water. And that was just one of the many environmental impacts that the expansion project would have. There's also the possible increase in air pollution in the area when the air-purifying trees are removed. And so they said:

3. They're replacing the trees, full grown, mature pine trees, with a "Sky Garden" that would have the same greening effect as the forest. 

But an artificial garden can never replicate the benefits derived from a forest of full-grown pine trees. 

4. They're going to earth-ball the trees to preserve them and keep them alive.

And that was one of the biggest lies they ever said. 

On the night of April 9, despite the existence of a Temporary Environmental Protection Order, the killings began. Vigilant members of the movement have been holding vigil in the area for several nights already to guard the trees and the distinct sound of branches breaking and chainsaws began. I received the call towards midnight and when I arrived in the area, I found scene on Luneta Hill quite absurd: you could make out the silhouettes of dozens of personnel - security guards, construction workers, but the forest remain unlit. If they believed they weren't doing anything wrong, why do it under cover of darkness? 

More rallies followed, the cause by this time was already getting international attention, and then DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo offered to mediate between the two sides. At a conference room in Camp Crame, representatives from those two sides sat on opposite sides of a long table, with Robredo at the head:

On one side, I remember being with leaders of Cordillera Global Network led by its president, Glo Abaeo, Mike Bengwayan who was one of the first to raise the alarm bells and initiated the January 20 rally, our lawyers Chit Daytec-Yangot and Christopher Donaal, volunteer Mike Arvisu and others. 

And on the other side of the table: Hans Sy. Then Mayor Mauricio Domogan. Then Congressman Bernardo Vergara. Then DENR Secretary Ramon Paje and others. 

The seating arrangement wasn't random at all which made me wonder then which side Baguio's mayor and congressman were on in this. While our side of the table pleaded the case for the trees, the other side justified their murder. 

Much of SM's argument then revolved around the proposal to earth-ball the trees, transplant them to preserve them.

It was a stalemate, basically. But at least we won the right to be allowed to inspect their earth-balling method.     

The scene of the crime was ghastly, and that is not an exaggeration. Gaping holes have been dug around several trees, what remained of their roots bundled up in sacks. From the expansion site, we were led to the transplantation site on the other side of the hill where they have already started transplanted previously earth-balled trees. They were propped up by bamboos to keep them upright. 

And this is where we see that SM City Baguio lied and never gave those trees the slightest chance to survive: that site is now SM City Baguio's Sky Ranch, the transplanted earth-balled trees buried under the foundations of those carnival rides and other structures. 

The parking facility is now open, and photos of the "sky garden" are spreading all over social media sites - the artificial garden they claimed would replicate the environmental benefits that Baguio has been getting from the forest they removed. 

And now, SM has the gall to offer itself to redevelop the public market. 

They've bastardized the birthplace of Baguio as a hill station and a city, what would make anyone think that they would respect the city's public market's historical and cultural value?

The Mayor has announced that the city government has rejected Robinson's offer to redevelop the public market. 

Sana all.  

Tejeros Convention-esque petty politics and art

  

Having witnessed and at times when necessary participated in, and now looking back at the local politics in Baguio in the last 25 years, I can’t help but be reminded of something Robert R. Reed said in his book, City of Pines: The Origins of Baguio as a Colonial Hill Station and Regional Capital. The book focused mainly on the history of Baguio from the time it was discovered first by the Spaniards who were the first to dream of establishing a health and recreational center in the area to its early years as a city. In the part about the drafting of the charter of the city, Reed shared that the principal author, George Malcolm, wrote a constitution that aimed to shield Baguio from petty politics.

One of the mandates of the charter that I believe served this purpose was that Baguio’s mayors were appointed by the president and not elected. Though whether this actually served Baguio’s interests better as opposed to having them elected is of course arguable. But in an interview I had with the late Leony San Agustin, one of the famous “Three Witches of Baguio” (along with the late Gene de Guia and Cecile Afable), she did recall that the massive migration to Baguio from nearby provinces which resulted in rampant squatting on both public and private lands began when the mayoralty became an elective office which had politicians encouraging people from their hometowns to make residency in Baguio to amass votes.

The practice of appointing Baguio’s chief executive lasted until the 1950s. On March 1, 1960, the citizens of Baguio saw Luis L. Lardizabal assume office as their first duly-elected mayor. I cite this not as an endorsement of the less democratic process of having chief executives appointed, but merely to illustrate how petty politics, in its different forms, can render institutions inutile and unresponsive to the needs of the city.

And politics, whether petty, traditional, dirty or downright rotten permeates not only pubic service but many other areas of the community. Like art.

When I was approached early last year by Baguio Arts and Crafts Collective, Inc. (BACCI) Chairperson Adelaida Lim to initially be involved in the organization and eventually to spearhead the staging of the second Baguio Creative City Festival, I was apprehensive. I have heard of the confrontational nature of its meetings during its inception with stories of shouting matches between its founders which included both persons regarded as institutions themselves in the local art and culture scene and emerging culture bearers.

These scenarios aren’t new – it’s like a monster that keeps on rearing its ugly head at almost every attempt at organizing the creative community. I have seen this play out in many assemblies involving artists in the past, foremost of which would be the fateful meeting that forced the late Santiago Bose to quit as chair of the Baguio Arts Guild in 2002. Santiago Bose passed away later that year, and while medical records may state the cause of death in more scientific terms, I believe he died of a broken heart.

Before that tragic coup, there was that Tejeros Convention-esque assembly in the late 90’s that saw the dissolution of the then current set of officers and the establishment of an interim board of directors which was not honored and downrightly rejected by some of the former. I opted to walk and stay away from all that in 1997, just as I did in 2002.

In the years that followed, I, along with members of the theater group I founded, Open Space, created, produced and presented theatrical performances independently. And by independent I mean from institutions both governmental and private. And those were what I would consider the halcyon days of the group. In the decade that followed, Open Space staged at least two major productions every year, one for each semester as the academe was and still is the primary source of patronage for theater in Baguio. And those productions got patronage from outside the city which had the group travelling to nearby provinces and at times much farther as in the performance of the twin-bill “Tonyo/Pepe” in Daet, Camarines Norte. While we did get the occasional minor sponsorships from private corporations, we survived mainly from the measly gate receipts of those productions and the sacrifice of the artists themselves and their commitment to and faith in the craft as a valuable means of presenting relevant social and cultural issues. The makeshift theaters – multipurpose halls and auditoriums, gymnasiums, classrooms and in one instance all the way down in Tayug, Pangasinan, a shed – these became not only the venues for our stories, but our refuge, our sanctuary, our insulation from the pervasive petty politics that was eating into larger art organizations.

I still dream of a means to unify, unionize the artists of Baguio that would empower, protect and serve the interests of the sector and where issues affecting artists, individually and collectively, may be objectively presented, discussed and addressed and initiatives aren’t at the mercy of the powers-that-be’s fragile egos. To paraphrase Carly Simon, don't be so vain, it's not always about you. 

But despite the repeated setbacks experienced in the couple of decades, I still believe it’s possible.  

Or maybe I'm wrong. 

Some trees do stand taller than others, others prettier with more leaves and longer branches but we mustn’t lose sight of the forest - which canopy provides much less shade when partitioned and scattered in smaller patches.