Manila condo residents: Down with telecoms tower

A giant telecommunications firm certainly isn’t living up to its name, if you are to believe the claims of homeowners living in a condominium in Manila.

Miffed residents of Standford condominium along M.H. del Pilar Street in Malate have raised a howl against the ongoing construction of a Smart Communications Inc. cellular tower across from their building, which they said pushed through without a public consultation.

In a public hearing in the building’s parking lot last week, more than a hundred residents of the condominium, as well as residents of nearby buildings, turned up to air their gripes against a Smart monopole tower now under construction 22 meters from their homes.

The residents cited possible health risks caused by radio frequency radiation, and called for the dismantling of the 24-meter-high cell site.

During the hearing, a representative from Smart said they did away with public consultations because the area was in a commercial and not a residential zone.

“Besides, we did not construct the tower on the building,” added Smart senior manager for technology services division Jigs Sueltos.

“Malate is classifed as commercial, but people live here,” said Horacio Y. Sese, president of Standford Tower Condominium Homeowners Association. “We have schools, a church, a park. There are at least three residential condominiums in the area. This is a mixed residential-commercial area.”

Sese also hit Smart for shrugging off the residents’ health concerns.  “You have no control over radiation. What about its long-term effects? ” he said.

Sueltos, however, said they had built towers on condominium units and even hospitals before, with no complaints of adverse effects.

He added that the tower, which cost P2 million, has permits from the barangay (village), city hall and the Department of Health (DoH).

Though a DoH representative assured the residents that the radiation from the towers “does not exceed dangerous exposure limits” and that studies have been inconclusive on adverse health effects caused by cell sites, the residents are saying otherwise.

“Research studies abroad are replete with data that conclusively linked these sites to high incidences of cancer cases,” the residents insisted in a letter to Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim.

Sueltos promised the residents he would forward their complaints to Smart for action.