In a text message, Save 182 Movement convener Karlo Marko Altomonte said, “They refused to receive the order from the court and diggings are still ongoing.”
ABS-CBNnews.com is still waiting for a comment from the Sy-led firm. SM spokesman Dennis Navarro earlier said, however, that the company has yet to receive the court’s directive.
Concerned citizens were able to get this morning a 72-hour temporary environmental protection order (TEPO) to stop the SM Group from cutting down some 182 trees in Luneta Hill for the mall expansion.
A report from ABS-CBN News Baguio said that some groups rushed to the Luneta Hill early Tuesday upon learning that workers have started the expansion project.
Their requests were unheeded, forcing them to throw rocks at a makeshift fence.
Prior to the issuance of the TEPO, Altomonte said less than 10 trees have already been felled.
Permanent
Altomonte said the petitioners will file a motion to make the protective order permanent.
He said they filed the petition in February. It was a different branch that took jurisdiction over the case. The judge in that branch decided to hear first the comments of the stakeholders.
Acting on an urgent motion and since the judge of that branch was absent today, a different judge issued the protective order, he explained.
Some netizens reported that they have heard the chopping of trees early on Tuesday.
Based on the Facebook page “Boycott SM everywhere,” more than seven trees have already been felled and backhoes have started to roll in.
In his Facebook account, Altomonte said: “Just came back from Luneta Hill. For months SM City Baguio insisted that what they're doing is right, that it's for the good of the city... then why are they doing this behind walls erected overnight, they even also blocked the view from inside the mall, and in the middle of the night?!?”
They have also started an online petition seeking to declare the Sys as “personas non gratas of Baguio City” for “disregarding the welfare of the community and the environment all in the name of crass commercialism and heartless capitalism with the expansion plan of SM City Baguio that will result in the potential death of 182 trees on Luneta Hill!”
In an earlier statement, SM Group said it has started replanting trees that will be affected by the expansion of its mall.
“Close consultations between SM’s technical, engineering, and design department and the Department of Environment and Natural resources as well as other environmental experts have preceded the earth balling of trees,” the statement read.
Earth balling means transferring the trees elsewhere.
It said it has “pulled all stops” to transfer the affected trees.
“It recognizes that these contribute to clean air, are a vital part of the city’s environs, and a legacy for Baguio’s future children,” SM said.
Source : By Ira Pedrasa, ABS-CBNnews.com
