Friday, December 12, 2008 [ manilatimes.net ]
TWO of the country’s top environment advocates yesterday declared full support for an embattled world-renowned Filipino architect-urban planner who is currently locked in a bitter dispute to save 300 endangered trees in the only remaining forest preserve in the Subic Free port and for exposing an alleged extortion attempt by a top Freeport official for a multimillion-dollar contract.
Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn and environmental lawyer Antonio Oposa, both United Nations Environmental Program Global 500 awardees for exemplary environmental protection and conservation work said international architect and urban planner Felino Palafox deserves full support from various sectors in society in his battle to save 300 decades-old trees which he included in his overall development plan for a project in the Subic Freeport even if it meant losing a $1-million contract and exposing alleged corruption in a multimillion-dollar bidding for the Subic Freeport project.
Palafox was one of several international urban planning and development firms who bided for a multimil-lion-dollar project at the Subic Freeport whose exclusion from the bidding for the project has caused a furor. An alleged extortion attempt by a top Subic Freeport official and Palafox’s unrelenting and steadfast stand to save 300 trees from destruction has been making the headlines in media.
Hagedorn threw his support behind Palafox by citing the invaluable contributions of the urban planner and his company to Puerto Princesa City.
“Palafox and Associates has been Puerto Princesa City’s urban planner for the past many years. Because of that we have had the good fortune not only of having world-class urban planning advice but also of knowing Architect Jun Palafox up close and personal. And we can only say that his current fight to save 300 decades-old trees in the overall developmental scheme is very much like him. We truly salute him for making such a principled stand. His having persevered even if it meant losing a $1-million contract makes him a bigger person in our eyes,’’ Hagedorn said.
On the other hand, Oposa,a Harvard-trained and internationally renowned environmental lawyer said: “In the early 90s, I had the chance to collaborate with Jun and concerned Manila businessmen to save the remaining stretch of Manila Bay along the Roxas Boulevard from being reclaimed. I can attest to his world-class commitment as an environmental planner.
Oposa decried the penchant of those in government to sacrifice nature in the name of mindless development. “When will our leaders ever understand that the environment is not about the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees but about life and the sources of life—land, air and water. Without these, there is no development to even talk about, as these are the very foundations of all life. We must learn to work with nature instead of against it. As shown by Jun Palafox in Puerto Princesa, it can be done,” Oposa said.
Hagedorn and Oposa called for an urgent, impartial investigation into the alleged plan to cut down trees in the proposed development site and the alleged extortion attempt against the company.
They said that this is not the first time an environmental issue such as this has cropped up in the Subic Freeport, where one of the last remaining lowland forests in the country is located. They also called on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to review the authority granted to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority to handle its environmental concerns.
