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A campaign was launched to save the trees at Luneta Hill, in Baguio City. The campaign is spearheaded by the Diocese of Baguio, Association of Women Religious in Baguio- Benguet, Cordillera Ecological Center, A Tree a Day, Save 182.
Good Shepherd Sisters Jeva Sumbillo and Jane Pineda attended the silent protest and signature campaign on January 19. The following day, Good Shepherd Sisters put out a table in front of Mountain Maid Store to gather more signatures to save the trees.
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To walk the talk, we have been boycotting SM Baguio since last year. Although we like to shop at Ace Harware, we now go to Handyman and DIY. Although it would have been more convenient to watch the movie Les Miserables at SM, we went to Robinson's in Pangasinan. Our friends in Baguio have stopped shopping in SM.
May we invite you to be in solidarity with the people of Baguio by boycotting SM in your city. The singer Sting boycotted SM by transferring his concert to another venue. Thank you.
We love Baguio! We love our heritage! Save Luneta Hill! Save our Trees!
Below is a shortened version of the Baguio Manifesto To Save Trees.
- Sr. M. Guadalupe Bautista
| Excerpts from the Baguio Manifesto to Save Trees by the Movement to Save All Trees of Baguio City |
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January 19, 2012 All trees are key to survival. Trees do not only provide life for the people who breath fresh oxygen but also continue to ensure water supply, prevent erosion and lessen excessive water run off. This is exactly what 133 pine and alnus trees are doing at Luneta Hill. Forty nine (49) have earlier been earth-balled and cut by SM Baguio leading to their deaths. Luneta Hill and its trees, is not only of ecological and cultural but also of historic importance and value to Baguio City and its people. The place is where the first ever sanitarium was built and American historical accounts point out that patients in the early 1900s miraculously have recovered from their ailments because of the trees and fresh air that the place provided. The older trees at Luneta Hill, some now more than a hundred years old, were planted by the Ibalois. Then the managers of then proud Pines Hotel added more trees in the late 1940s. The trees have stood tall, proud, and have given more than we ever wanted. But today, SM wants to cut and earth-ball the trees to put up a seven storey parking lot, even though it cannot produce a title to claim ownership of the land. We appeal to all Baguio residents, people who were born, studied, who at one time or another lived here, and those who love trees and Baguio City, to protest against the intended and shameful act by SM. The trees came before us. They are our history and our future. Let us not take them for granted. Let us not allow the trees to die. It would be a shame for us to leave a world to our children much worse than what we have inherited. We urgently need to tell SM to find new ways of living happily with trees as cultural, spiritual and emotional companions, as well as for ecological reasons. Let us work for the protection of the trees at Luneta Hill and of all trees in Baguio City. Stand up and speak out for the trees. God would want you to do so.
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