Earth Day marked by protests

URBAN FOREST During the world observance of Earth Day, a man takes refuge under the trees of Arroceros Forest Park amid searing heat in Manila. The 2.2-hectare park, considered the city’s “last lung,” is home to about 60 tree species and a small population of birds belonging to six different species. RICHARD A. REYES

Protests marked Earth Day on Sunday, with environmentalists in Pampanga painting the faces of President Benigno Aquino III and other officials on trees set to be cut for a road expansion.

In Panay, the event saw the culmination of a 822-kilometer caravan against mining on the island. The caravan passed by 48 towns and three cities—nine towns in Aklan, 10 towns and a city in Capiz, 17 towns and two cities in Iloilo, and 12 towns in Antique.

Elsewhere, environmentalists held a concert, a summit for sharing successful conservation measures, a clean-up drive and tree planting.

In the City of San Fernando in Pampanga, some 60 members of Kayanakan Manalakaran (Youth with Conviction) and Save the Trees Coalition, drew human figures and faces of Mr. Aquino and local officials on 200 of 576 trees to protest a proposal to cut these for the expansion of the Manila North Road.

The protest began from St. Scholastica’s College in Barangay (village) San Agustin to Greenfields in Barangay De la Paz, covering a stretch of 7 kilometers of road lined with acacia. The trees are estimated to be more than 50 years old.

The late Pampanga Governor Rafael Lazatin and youth leaders planted the trees, said his son, Pampanga Representative Carmelo Lazatin.

Rochie Pangilinan, the Kayanakan Manalakaran president, said the other trees would be painted with human figures and faces of the President and government officials during weekends.

Paje, Pineda

Mr. Aquino was drawn with his eyeglasses on and signature yellow ribbon. Faces of Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, Pampanga Governor Lilia Pineda and San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez were also painted on the trees.

Pangilinan said the faces of the officials were painted there to “tell the  people who are accountable to the public in case the trees are felled.”

“We also want to remind the people that if you kill a tree, you kill life,” he said. “It’s not too late to save the remaining 576 trees.”

The Department of Public Works and Highways has been holding consultations on the proposal since March. The agency cut more than 100 trees in 2010, stopping only when local artists painted human figures on the trees and activists kept vigil to stop work crews from cutting them.

“[The government] must stop with its foolishness and murder of trees,” said Cecile Yumul,  the spokesperson of Save the Trees Coalition.

“If officials care a bit to get out of their air-conditioned rooms and cars, perhaps they’ll feel how hot or humid it has been since the trees were cut,” Yumul said.

“If they can’t read the signs of Mother Nature, they’re going to do us a lot of injustice because we deserve a clean environment,” she added.

Raising alarm

The caravan against large-scale mining started on Friday and ended in a brief program at the provincial capitol grounds on Bonifacio Drive in Iloilo City after passing the provinces of Iloilo, Antique, Aklan and Capiz.

“The caravan was a symbolic message to raise alarm against the destruction of communities and contamination of the environment due to large-scale mining,” said Ma. Geobelyn Lopez, the secretary general of Madia-as Ecological Movement.

It was held “to let communities that have spontaneously risen up and fight against mining companies know that they are not alone,” Lopez said.

The caravan was also organized by  Visayan Coalition for the Ecology and Defend Patrimony.

Warm welcome

“The warm welcome by church groups, local officials and communities opposed to mining shows concern of the people on the unabated mining applications and operations in various areas,” Lopez said.

On Panay and Guimaras islands, 172,764.26 hectares of the total land area of 1,229,704 ha were covered by approved or pending mining applications, Lopez said, citing data from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.

Antimining advocates have called for the scrapping of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and a moratorium on the processing and approval of mining applications.

Seven vehicles

Around 100 participants in seven vehicles left Iloilo City after an ecumenical Mass celebrated by priests and pastors on Friday morning.

The caravan arrived at noon in the capital town of San Jose in Antique where they were hosted by the San Jose Diocesan Social Action Center.

In the afternoon, the caravan was met in Barbaza town by members of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, who joined the participants to Pandan and Libertad towns.

The dioceses of San Jose, Antique and various groups in the province are opposing mining activities in Libertad, especially in areas within or near the 12,009-ha North Western Panay Peninsula, a protected area.

A short program was held in Libertad before the caravan proceeded to Malay town, Aklan. The participants spent the night in Ibajay town, also in Aklan.

Kalibo, Roxas City

On Saturday, the caravan proceed to Aklan’s capital town,  Kalibo, for a short program at  Pastrana Park before proceeding to Roxas City in Capiz.

The caravan left Roxas City early  Saturday afternoon,  passing the mining areas in Maayon, Pontevedra and Pilar towns in Capiz.

The group arrived in Estancia town in Iloilo in evening where the caravan contingents spent overnight.

On the caravan’s third day on Sunday, the contingents left Estancia in the morning passing the Iloilo towns of Batad, San Dionisio, Sara, Lemery, Concepcion and Ajuy before arriving in Barotac Viejo town by noon. It ended in Iloilo City in the afternoon.

Creek cleanup

In Angeles City, the Holy Rosary Parish and Subli, a coalition of local  governments, public agencies, nongovernment organizations and private firms, held a free concert on Sunday night.

The parish, led by Pampanga Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, has restored the Sapang Balen Creek through weekly clean-up drives and awareness-raising activities since three years ago.

In Baguio, various groups pushed for traditional knowledge as a possible cure for the city’s problems with garbage and a diminishing tree cover at the first Baguio People’s Environmental Summit at the University of the Philippines (UP) Baguio.

Women’s organizations, activists and a Baguio university coalition shared case studies of successful river rehabilitation, recycling and tree-conservation programs that worked.

Alice Sobreviñas, a Catholic nun, said old resource management  concepts often resulted in “no waste at all,” so government should reflect on practical solutions such as vermiculture, a gardening method in which earthworms converts organic waste materials into compost.

Bailili River rehab

Baguio and nearby La Trinidad town in Benguet are cooperating to rehabilitate the Bailili River, which they share, said Dr. Aurea Marie Sandoval of the Benguet State University (BSU). The BSU and UP Baguio are among the universities working to restore the river.

Among the summit participants were members of groups who protested the earth balling of 182 trees to make way for the expansion of SM City Baguio.

Michael Bengwayan, who mounted the online campaign against the tree transfer, reflected on how other Baguio watersheds continued to lose trees due to forest fires and the absence of sustained  care.

In Nueva Ecija, several youth organizations and NGOs held a clean-up drive and tree planting in Cabanatuan City and in a remote village of Palayan City. They urged the public to fight smoke belching, illegal logging and indiscriminate use of plastic.

Morito Tatel, the secretary general of  Young Men’s Christian Association-Nueva Ecija, said the province’s youth were campaigning for a clean environment.

During the Cabanatuan cleanup, they displayed placards that called on people and concerned officials to manage wastes properly, save energy, arrest smoke belchers and stop illegal logging.

Later, members of Koalisiyon ng mga Makakalikasang Novo Ecijanos planted trees at the Bacao reforestation project in Sitio Bacao, Palayan. With reports from Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon; Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon; and Felipe Celino, Inquirer Visayas