WTF is this??? Who is the perpetrator?
CLICK FOR THE PODCAST EDITION!
I am greatly affected by a Facebook-shared video of Dr. Benito Vergara lately. In the video, you clearly see that some parts of the fabled and revered Mt. Makiling , said to be home of legend icon Mariang Makiling being ravaged to allegedly give way to the construction of a hotel.
Dr. Vergara has a vivid tale to tell : [EDITED BELOW] So the story goes Vice President Jejomar Binay is building a private hotel along the picturesque slopes of Mt. Makiling on land leased from UP Los Banos by the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) for which he is President. The story goes further that there is indeed a bill pending in Congress to turn over that land to BSP, ceding all its control to Binay. The two-lane road going up Mt. Makiling, which is lined by majestic trees older than you and me put together, has been widened. The trees murdered. Did the municipality know? Did UPLB let this happen? Did the DENR okay this? Was the community consulted? What of the magical spot we all fondly call “Magnetic Hill”? AMENDED: The private hotel is El Cielito Inn and it has already been built INSIDE the BSP enclave which sits INSIDE UPLB’s jurisdiction of Mount Makiling.http://www.elcielitohotels.com/
This is a very sensitive matter and touches the basic responsibility of mankind to preserve as much forests to keep the ecosystem at a pleasurable level. When I reposted this on the Facebook Los Baños Group , it got these reactions from its members:
-
-
Risanty Lonto unti-unti ng sinakasakal ng development ang ating mahal na bundok Makiling sa Calamba andun na ang ayala at sta. lucia housings at kung hindi ako nagkakamali ang makiling heights ng LB eh nauna pa sa mga ito. sa side ng calauan at bay area na malapit sa power plant ay pagaari na ng chevron at henry sy. sa batangas side meron Townsville Subd at kung mapapansin nyo maraming area dun ang kalbo na. darating ang panahon magugulat kayo na ang malalaking parcel ng lupain sa bundok ay pag-aari na pala mga kapitalista at mga pulitiko. mga inutil na kasi mga ahensiya ng gobyerno. nakakalungkot -
Risanty Lonto at kapag nilabanan mo sila pararatangan ka naman na sagabal sa pag-unlad haha
-
Connie Fiehn Hayy..ano ba yan diba kaya madalas ng magkaron n g baha pag may bagyo dahil sa mga pag putol ng mga puno paano na ang kagandahan ng los banos kung over loaded na at konting ulan lang eh tinutubig na dyan sa bandang Maquiling road to etc..hay di pa man nakaupo eh purwisyo na sana naman mabigyan to ng pansin ,,! -
Evilstussy G Kakashi Anung gngawa ng ating munisipyo. . . Walang lakas ngluod yan kng walang kpt.. . KngMG PUWTOL KAU NG ISANG puno. . Denr anung gngawa ninyo . Klagang pb btuhn kau para gumalaw. Or pera pera lang b labanan jan.. Mga pu. . . . . . .a -
Evilstussy G Kakashi Ung mga nakaupo at galaw galaw naman po jan . Bka mgkakalyo po kau.
-
Garvin Karmina Moldez Tanong lang po.. Bakit pinapalaki ang kalsada sa PCARRD Timugan kasi nakita ko na maraming matatandang puno na pinutol.. Alam po ba yan ng DENR? -
Evilstussy G Kakashi Ng bi2ke ako jan 50 mters ata. Tapuz ang ngastos 16m . Ang laki
-
Leo Tatad cno pa ba?nkaupo?bka bayad na cla..huh. -
Arthur Delos Santos Sa mga naupo,,, tumayo naman kayo dyan para makita nyo ang nangyayari sa labas……………. -
Jinggoy Aglibut Ramirez ipinagmamalaki pa naman natin na ang Mt. Makiling ay virgin pa….ngayon ano ang ginawa nila….they raped our dearest mt. makiling…..and what happens next? -
Paul H Roquia jejomar binay should be declared PERSONA NON GRATA in LosBanos for officiating such heinous deed to the legendary Mt. MAKILING! -
Evilstussy G Kakashi Magkakarun n jan ng mga hotel casino. At ibng pwd pagkakitaan.. .
-
ChefRonaldo Cervantes Dapat bantayan na mabuti ang mga yan baka ma ulit pa uli yan kawawa ang mga taga los banos baka pag dating ng arw mang yari sa atin ang nang yari sa ormok -
Risanty Lonto ang mga big time na mga kapitalista ibang klaseng ang projection nila pag dating sa investments ang mga yan malimit ahead ng ilang years minsan ilang dekada pa nga eh. sa ngayon kasi nagiging matinding issue na global warming at magiging normal na ang flooding sa lowlands lalo na sa coastal area ng dagat at lawa so ang developments at sa mga highlands na malamang pag sinabing matataas na lupa eh mga bundok na lugar yan. sa ngayon talamak na ang kamkaman ng lupa sa mga ganitong lugar. di lang sa atin ang me ganitiong issue sa san pablo city sa bayan ng luisiana, bayan ng liliw at iba pang lugar na matataas. sa atin ang isang example ay ang purok 5 at 6 ng timugan. kung ako ay kapitalista ito ang nakikita ko dun hehe ideal nga naman ang landscape na yun para sa isang golf course hehehe tapos yun area boyscout of the philippines gawin mong highclass na housing tas me parang club house para sa mayayamang golfer kumpleto mga facilities nun me swimming pool, tennis court, basketball court hehe…
-
Garvin Karmina Moldez May nakausap ako na dating LBTMO ngayon ay sa loob na ng munisipyo. Nkasabay ko sya s jip tinanung ko ung tungkol sa PCARD kasi tinanung ko sya kung bkit pinalawak ang kalsada doon, sabi nya sakin DPWH daw ang nagpagawa ng kalsada, tinanung ko sya ulit sabi ko bakit papalawakin ang kalsada dun eh hindi naman national road way yun at puputol pa ng matatandang puno para lang dun, tumawa na lang sya. bdtrip..
-
Risanty Lonto abangan ang land conversion… from public lands to private… from forest reserve to comercialize and privatize na kabundukan. nasimulan na yan matagal na and lately pati lupain sa malapit sa dampalit falls napatituluhan na mmmm me naniningil na ba dun ng entrance fee?
-
Evilstussy G Kakashi Dpt jan. Batohn ng bulok n itlog para mgning mg denr.
-
Evilstussy G Kakashi Meyor. Ano na
-
… Now , let us read what the BSP has press released regarding this matter; take a very close look at the closing statement:
STATEMENT OF WENDELL AVISADO, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND ACTING SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE PHILIPPINES, ON THE SUPPOSED HOTEL IN MT. MAKILING
Posted: Tuesday, April 01, 2014
The Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) would like to emphasize that there is no truth to the allegations being circulated in social media regarding a supposed private hotel of Vice President Jejomar C. Binay within the vicinity of the Makiling National Scout Reservation Park and that trees have been cut down in the area.
The BP International Hotel, named in honor of Scouting’s founder Lord Baden Powell, was opened during BSP’s hosting of the 26th Asia-Pacific Regional Scout Jamboree in December 2009. The hotel is owned by BSP and currently managed by El Cielito Hotels. It is open to the public and is used to provide lodging facilities for local and international scouting officials and members during BSP events. It was constructed with the knowledge and consent of UPLB.
The said property is being leased by BSP from UPLB. The area where the hotel is located was the exact location of the former Romulo Hall and Lim Hall which used to house the jamboree program committee headquarters. They are part of the facilities for all national and international jamborees hosted by the BSP in cooperation with other national agencies and local government units.
No additional land was acquired and no trees were cut. In fact, the trees in the area have been preserved.
Aliwan Avenue 
We believe that the DPWH project of widening the road through the Makiling National Forest Reserve (MNFR) is being undertaken in the guise of easing the traffic along the National Road passing Los Banos-UPLB Junction because:
1. There exists an alternate Malinta-San Isidro road that goes along the Laguna Lake shoreline which we believe has greater benefit-to-cost ratio and that will bring unquantifiable economic and social benefits to the tens of thousands of residents along this road if this is to be widen instead; and
2. The current road that is being widen goes through the MFNR, through the UPLB campus, and along Lopez Avenue up to the very road junction that the DPWH project is supposed to divert the traffic from.
We believe (inferred through common knowledge of residents) that the real it-doesnt-take-a-rocket-science-to-figure-out reason was to provide a wider road access to a private hotel allegedly owned by Vice President Jejomar Binay (VPJB). The hotel was built inside the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) Campus inside the MFNR but is not doing well in terms of occupancy despite the relatively higher occupancy rates of nearby resorts and hotels. VPJB is the former National President of BSP. By widening the road, the hotel owner through DPWH hopes to bring public transport to the Hotel. DPWH in the process has to murder decades-old trees (that help prevent top soil erosion on both sides of the road), and desecrate revered landmarks such as the Magnetic Hill, one among the wonders of nature in Los Banos.
We see that the current road widening project through MFNR will trigger a parallel series of domino-like environmental and social events and one such series is as follows:
1. Access to public transport through road widening will increase the already unchecked number of illegal settlers inside the MFNR, who are often exploited for political gains during election times;
2. The illegal settlers will definitely cut more trees to clear the area for building their make-shift houses and whose domestic activities and unplanned “improvements” on the land will significantly lessen the water-absorbing and holding capacity of the mountain soil; and
3. We pessimistically estimate that it will only take a quarter of Yolanda-type amount of rainfall to bring Ormoc-like disasters to the home owners and residents at the foot of the MFNR.
Why do we believe that the DPWH project was funded with the wrong motives? Indeed very simple: When any civil work is undertaken, DPWH usually plasters billboards to grandstand their supposed excellent performance in securing funds for building infrastructure for the sake of the honest tax-paying public. But in this particular project, none was erected prior and during the project implementation because they know that the environmental and social activists in us will vehemently oppose such self-serving projects because we know better: There is an alternate road that needs the funds for widening, the road that is currently being widened leads directly to the very junction that they want to ease the traffic from, and we can see the kind of environmental disaster that will happen in the future.
It is not late to oppose such project. We can still act by telling the DPWH central office, DPWH-Laguna District 1 through Governor E.R. Ejercito, and Los Banos Mayor Caesar Perez that we know better. We need to stop the road widening project and instead explore all legal means to transfer the allocated funds to the widening of the alternate Malinta-San Isidro road if they really want to ease the worsening traffic condition along the National Highway.
To voice out our opposition, join me in signing this online petition at change.org: https://www.change.org/ph/mga-petisyon/rogelio-l-singson-stop-the-widening-of-the-road-through-the-mnfr-and-legally-channel-the-funds-instead-to-widen-the-malinta-san-isidro-road-to-really-ease-the-traffic-at-the-los-banos-junction
“It was constructed with the knowledge and consent of UPLB.” IS WRONG. ASK UPLB LEGAL OFFICE.