SC stops road project in Benguet for now

The Supreme Court has temporarily stopped the road opening activities at Mount Santo Tomas watershed in Tuba, Benguet, following claims that it is causing environmental degradation in the area.

In an en banc session Tuesday, the SC granted a request from church leaders and several residents in Benguet to issue a temporary environment protection order (TEPO) against Baguio Rep. Nicasio Aliping, who the petitioners accused as being one of those responsible for the degradation of Mount Santo Tomas, which is a valuable source of water to residents of Tuba and Baguio City.

In a summary, the SC Public Information Office said the TEPO directed Aliping and those acting in his behalf to "cease and desist from performing acts to develop or enhance the property located at Mount Santo Tomas forest reserve which respondent claims to be his/or his brother's."

Among the activities temporarily barred by the SC are the improvement of the old building standing on the land, the construction of any structure, the continuation of any road activities, and the concreting of any part of the road.

Aliping was ordered to immediately take steps to mitigate the contamination of the Amilang dams due to the erosion caused by the road opening project.

The TEPO also prevented the local government of Tuba, through its Mayor Florencio Benitez, from accepting applications for the issuance of tax declarations over lands within the Mount Santo Tomas forest reserve, and from issuing tax declarations that have already been processed and approved.

Residents of Mount Santo Tomas have been using the tax declarations to justify the construction of the structures in the forest reserve.

The SC also referred the case to the Court of Appeals for the acceptance of comment, hearing, reception of evidence, and rendition of judgment.

The petitioners—led by Bishop Carlito Cenzon of the Baguio-Benguet Diocese and Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan Diocese—filed their petitions last September 12.

Aside from Aliping and Benitez, also named respondents were Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, Tuba Police Chief Inspector William Willie, and several other provincial  environment officials.

The SC required the respondents to comment on the petition within 10 days from notice.

Discovery

In their plea, the petitioners said that mountains trekkers have discovered on April 15, 2014 tree-cutting and massive earth-moving activities at Mount Santo Tomas, prompting barangay, police and environment officers to conduct an investigation.

Probers later found out that the earth-moving activities were approved by Aliping for the purpose of opening a road starting from Mount Kabuyao highway all the way to Sitio Amliang and Sitio Bekel of Poblacion, Tuba.

The activities were located within Mount Santo Tomas, which reportedly resulted in the cutting of 306 trees and 455 saplings.

The petitioners said the newly-opened road ends 50 meters away from Amilang creek. They claimed the rocks and soil from the earth-moving activities posed a pollution threat on the water resources around the area.

The petitioners also said areas within the forest reserve's vicinity have been illegally converted into human settlements, resulting in the reduction of the forest cover.

The investigators also found out that no environmental compliance certificate, tree cutting permit or special land use permit, right of way or excavation permit were issued for the activities. —KBK, GMA News