2014: Environment groups to ‘retake’ road project

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Environment groups to ‘retake’ road project
Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 13, 2014

BAGUIO CITY—Two groups of environmentalists on Wednesday said they would “retake” what they called an illegal road project initiated by Baguio Rep. Nicasio Aliping Jr. inside the Mt. Sto. Tomas watershed to plant saplings and replace more than 700 trees that were destroyed in the area.

The Cordillera Conservation Trust (CCT) and Greenpeace Philippines have encouraged people online to help reforest the road on June 15, Cordillera Day, a special holiday in the region to mark the establishment of the Cordillera Administrative Region in 1987.

Their posts urged volunteers to “celebrate Cordillera Day by taking back and caring for our mountains.”

Aliping has been accused of developing the road. He is facing charges of violation of forestry and environmental laws in the office of the Benguet prosecutor, the Environmental Management Bureau and the Pollution Adjudication Board.

On Monday, Aliping said he had no part in the road diggings along the side of a mountain that supposedly leads to his land claims in Mt. Cabuyao, a part of the Sto. Tomas watershed.

The “retake” campaign was launched by Joseph Paul Alipio, CCT director, who earlier urged local officials to destroy the road so it would no longer be used.

During a June 26 environmental forum organized by the John Hay Management Corp., Alipio showed photographs of damaged watershed sections, which were allegedly dug up for the construction of a 2.6-km road.

Alipio said he went to the Mt. Cabuyao section of the watershed on June 25 and saw the road “not only displaced more than 700 grown trees and tree saplings but also the watershed microorganisms that sustain the ecosystem.”

“What was disturbing was the silence in the area. There were no birds, no insects,” he said.

Alipio’s group helps remote Cordillera schools build their own tree nurseries for reforestation programs. Most of these schools are in or near forest areas. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon

Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net/619126/environment-groups-to-retake-road-project#ixzz37JIuKj6F

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Class suit mulled vs Baguio lawmaker
Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 14, 2014

BAGUIO CITY—Citizens’ groups here have begun planning a class suit against Baguio Rep. Nicasio Aliping Jr. for his alleged role in building an illegal road inside a watershed that led to the pollution of a water source of the city.

Old Baguio families and civic groups, including Baguio Bishop Carlito Cenzon, gathered on Saturday at the University of the Philippines (UP) Baguio and discussed the possibility of filing a class suit or a petition for a writ of kalikasan, after being informed that 20 communities in Baguio and neighboring Tuba town in Benguet province may suffer reduced water allocations because of the damage.

Aliping earlier told the Inquirer that he was not involved in excavating sections of the Mt. Santo Tomas watershed to build a road, although the lawmaker confirmed that he had bought land inside the watershed.

No permits

Aliping and three contractors are facing a criminal complaint filed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for allegedly cutting trees without permits to make way for a road. The project, the DENR said, had no environmental compliance certificate.

Baguio Water District (BWD) also filed pollution charges against Aliping and the contractors in the Pollution Adjudication Board.

Fernando Peria, chief of BWD’s nonrevenue water management division, said erosion traced to the road excavations on Mt. Cabuyao in the watershed polluted two of three springs in Sitio Amliang.

Water drawn from the remaining spring source would also need to be pumped out to the communities because soil blocked a distribution system that allowed the water to flow to BWD tanks by gravity, Peria said. Pumping would cost BWD up to P2.5 million in electricity bills.

Rationing

Peria told the UP assembly that communities served by the Amliang springs are rationed three times a week, but the frequency could be cut down further because of the damage.

Some of the Baguio residents who proposed a class suit said they live in the communities served by the Amliang springs.

The militant Tongtongan ti Umili also announced that it would pursue a separate lawsuit against Aliping.

Cenzon, however, reminded the groups that a class suit may snowball to include other people who live inside the watershed or who make a living there.

He said the watershed teems with vegetable gardens that may have been around before the road project was started. “There may be sectors that would not be happy about the class suit,” he said.

Public interest

The assembly was organized by UP Baguio chancellor Raymundo Rovillos and Pine Cone Movement Inc., chaired by Maria Isabel Ongpin.

“Public interest is paramount in the subject of forest reservations and watersheds because of the very nature of these ecosystems. Fragile as they are, these environments determine the quality of life as we know today, and the assurance of the society’s future,” according to a statement issued by the groups who attended the assembly. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon

Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net/619314/class-suit-mulled-vs-baguio-lawmaker#ixzz37Qu63w5B