Groups seek dialogue on tree-cutting issue in Subic
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 01/14/2009 11:43 PM
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Environmentalists, college students, civil groups, and members of the religious sector pressed for a dialogue between the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and architect Felino Palafox Jr. over a dispute on the Ocean 9 hotel-casino project in Olongapo City.
Palafox earlier alleged that more than 300 trees would be destroyed for the building of the controversial hotel-casino which has stirred concerns among various interest groups.
The Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines visited the site of the $120-million Ocean 9 hotel-casino project over the weekend. They were joined by some 100 representatives from the Haribon Foundation, Kapatiran, Zambales Earth Savers, and students from De La Salle University, Adamson University, Assumption Academy in Bulacan, and Columban College in Olongapo City.
The visiting groups were accompanied by SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza and Ocean 9 managing executive director Louis Jong-Moon Choi. Palafox, on the other hand, did not show up at the on-site visit.
Arreza said that the SBMA is open to dialogue with Palafox on his allegations. He said they are looking forward to clear the issue with him.
"That was what we have been asking Palafox ever since - instead of his propagating malicious ideas against SBMA, just like what he did this morning," Arreza said in a statement.
"I can face him right now if only he has had the courage to come here," he added.
For his part, Choi said that Ocean 9 has been complying with all relevant laws, rules, and regulations as far as the project is concerned. He added that Palafox has never even visited the project site.
Palafox turned his back on the construction of the Ocean 9 Casino and Hotel Resort in Subic. He said that it would lead to the cutting of more than 300 trees. A principal architect, urban planner and managing partner of Palafox Associates, he has waged another battle against property developments which said spoils the country's environment.
Misinterpretation?
Arreza dismissed Palafox's claims regarding the controversial Ocean 9 hotel-casino project, saying that they have "nothing to hide here."
Palafox said that the $120-million project has poisoned 161 trees in the area: "You can kill trees simply with rock salt, or bulldozers can be used to shake the trees overnight - which can cause their death."
However, Arreza said that Palafox may be referring to some narra trees in the area. These trees, he said, naturally shed leaves in this season, making them appear lifeless.
The SBMA official even welcomed a proposal to test the soil for poison, adding that the visiting groups can conduct the test if they wanted to.
"Anyone can come here anytime. Just inform us so we can secure arrangements with the project proponent," Arreza said.
Palafox also said that the SBMA took advantage of the holidays to sneak cranes inside the project site, saying that trees "were marked like convicts lined up for execution."
But Arreza pointed out that the markings were made during the tree inventory and "precisely to ensure that not one tree is touched until the Department of Natural Resources is done with processing the project's environmental compliance certificate."
As for the presence of cranes, which Palafox claimed are poised "to massacre the trees", Arreza said those were for soil testing, a necessary procedure to determine the integrity of the site--which was reclaimed from swamplands from the late 50s to the early 60s.
