Class suit mulled vs Baguio lawmaker

SITE where at least 700 trees were felled for a road project attributed to Baguio Rep. Nicasio Aliping Jr. JP ALIPIO/CONTRIBUTOR

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