BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—The Save Mt. Kanlaon Coalition Friday again failed to get a temporary restraining order from a court here to stop the Energy Development Corp. from cutting trees at the buffer zone of the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park.

This despite the effort of a group led by Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra, who braved the rains and staged a prayer-rally outside the Hall of Justice in Bacolod City while the petition was being heard at the Regional Trial Court.

Navarra with 200 members of the coalition, seminarians, nuns and students stood outside the court house as lawyers argued their cause before Bacolod RTC Judge Rodney Bolunia.

However, Bolunia opted not to act on the TRO because two of the accused, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes and the members of the MKNP Protected Area Management Board, were yet to be summoned to the hearing.

EDC had been granted permission by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to cut 4,213 trees in the buffer zone where it is drilling geothermal power to boost the production capacity of its Northern Negros Geothermal Production Field in Mailum, Bago City.

A DENR report as of Aug. 30 said 2,443 trees have so far been cut.

Members of communities, including their children, who said they have benefited from EDC’s presence in Bago and Murcia town also gathered in front of the Hall of Justice yesterday to express their support for the geothermal drilling project.

Environmentalist and peace advocate Delia Locsin, 72, was the first to take the witness stand for the plaintiffs who had filed a class suit against EDC, Reyes, Environment Secretary Lito Atienza and the MKNP Protected Area Management Board.

Wearing a green T-shirt with the message “Thou Shalt not Steal” written on it, accentuated by a yellow scarf and ribbon, the colors of their protest, Locsin said she joined the class suit because of the environmental degradation that will result from the cutting of trees at the park’s buffer zone.