According to Politico on Wednesday, December 6, the Office of the President has already asked permission from the Baguio City government to cut the trees for the construction of Medialdea’s summer house. It is located on Mansion land in Barangay Lualhati, where the summer houses of the Vice President, the Senate president and the House speaker also sit.
Apparently, many of these summer residences are clustered in what is now Cabinet Hill. However, this is the first time a summer cottage will be built for an executive secretary. The tree-cutting application was filed by Mansion land director, Carlota Pauly. The 32 Caliandra trees that are to be cut are located on the right side of the said cottage.
Interestingly, the cottage used to be a temporary residence of former rebel priest, Conrado Balweg back in 1987, shortly after he agreed to a ceasefire with then President Corazon “Cory” Aquino. It has been renamed to Cordillera House, and recently, there were proposals that it would be renovated to serve as a possible heritage site.
As expected, environmentalists disagree with the idea of cutting the trees. Nevertheless, the PIA said their employees were the ones who planted those trees, and that they were not part of the original forest cover at Wright Park. The said cottage is not also subjected to be a heritage house, wherein the main requirement is that it should be at least 50 years old.
In addition, a, letter from Rainier Balbuena, city environment and natural resources officer (Cenro), said that the Office of the President would replace them with Benguet pine trees. The Cenro also asked Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan to issue the clearance for the tree-cutting permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Contributed by Renato Pasayao
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