Siding with Baguio and their trees

Who isn’t familiar with the famous Joyce Kilmer poem Trees. It starts with, “I think I shall never see, a poem as lovely as a tree,” and ends with, “Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.”

I live near a Catholic school which used to be a thick forest. Our summers back then were spent playing hide-and-seek with my cousin and neighbors. We’d even play shatong in the area because the shade from the trees made the place cooler. A few years ago, however, the trees were cut and then a huge school took their place. The sound of children playing in the area has been replaced by a solemn buzz brought about by the nuns running place.

My witnessing of turning nature’s best into commercial establishments did not stop there. A year ago, a vast corn and kangkong field became the new site of a mall. Fresh water turned into concrete, a pity on the river beside it. On the brighter side, the mall promised the Consolacioños a better life. More like the contrary.

Similarly, the SM Baguio expansion project is said to be a green solution with the corporation planting 30,000 trees in the next three years after they cut 182. It seems viable with the number difference. However, it takes 15 to 20 years to grow such trees, a span of time equivalent to a generation. SM has been urging shoppers to go green but their action on the trees of Baguio is certainly not green.

Many have joined the protests against the earth-balling of the trees in Baguio, waving the Temporary Protection Order issued by the court. But how long can this protection order protect the trees? The activists’ shouts are not just done for the sake of protesting. It’s for the love of nature, Baguio and our country. If we let this pass and be defeated by the strong front of capitalism, we are cowards. As author and historian Christine Diaz said in a personal talk, “It’s the love for our country that makes us great, rooted with our deep emotions.” I’d go there myself and shout with them, if only the City of Pines wasn’t that far.

SM Baguio is already big enough, I’ve been there myself. Baguio does not need additional parking space. It does, however, need more trees. The summer capital is experiencing a decline on its temperature rate due to man’s irresponsibility with the environment. Let’s not make it any worse.

**Published in the Freeman newspaper on April 17, 2012