We received the news moments before the gathering we scheduled at the U.P. Baguio auditorium yesterday afternoon. “TEPO extended until after the case is resolved.” The text message came from a member of the movement’s legal team, Atty. Chris Donaal.
There were only around six of us at the time, waiting for the other members of [...]
BAGUIO CITY—Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo said a dialogue will be held at the National Police Commission office in Makati City to help resolve the environmental issues on the expansion of SM mall here.
After keynoting the 9th International Igorot Conference attended by Cordillerans based abroad, he told reporters that today’s meeting would be joined [...]
BAGUIO CITY—The Catholic diocese of Baguio on Sunday suspended the holding of Masses at the SM City Baguio in protest of the earth balling or transfer of 182 pine and alnus trees in its Luneta Hill compound to make way for the mall’s expansion.
A letter signed by Bishop Carlito Cenzon and 14 priests, which [...]
BAGUIO CITY — Presiding Judge Antonio Esteves, of Regional Trial Court Branch 5, extended the Temporary Environment Protection Order, stopping SM Investment Corp. from cutting and earthballing any tree for its P1-billion mall expansion.
The order was issued shortly before 5 p.m. Friday, staying any improvement at Luneta Hill “until after the termination of the [...]
BAGUIO CITY—The controversy over the fate of 182 trees, which a shopping mall intends to uproot and transfer, has provided the government with a laboratory to help it design a mechanism for transplanting Baguio’s pine trees.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has informed SM Investments Corp. that it has been documenting the methods [...]
I write this at the risk of sounding like an ignorant smart-ass and infuriating the multitude of citizens fighting passionately to advance their cause. Although I know I might end up as Baguio’s persona non grata, I feel compelled to express an opinion drowned out in the current controversy over an issue as sensitive as [...]
MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has recommended that the state declare nine sites as protected areas and nearly 200 other sites as tourism zones to protect them from mining claims and extractive activities.
Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said the DENR and the National Tourism Council last week approved proposals to delineate hundreds [...]
BAGUIO CITY—Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo on Thursday said Malacañang will gather officials of the shopping mall giant SM and the city government and representatives of environmental groups on April 16 to settle their dispute over the displacement of 182 trees from Luneta Hill to make way for the mall’s expansion.
A 72-hour temporary environmental protection [...]
THE ENVIRONMENT department yesterday appeared to backtrack on the permit it gave for the SM group to uproot trees to make way for the expansion of its mall in Baguio City, with the agency head ordering its regional office to heed a court-ordered halt amid public clamor.
In a statement released yesterday, Environment Secretary Ramon [...]
MANILA, Philippines—The Roman Catholic bishop of Baguio City supported calls by various groups on Wednesday for a boycott of SM malls across the country in protest of its clearing of trees to make room from the expansion of its mall in the City of Pines.
Bishop Carlito Cenzon said a boycott was one way to [...]
