Trash, tree planting and Burnham issues

BENCHWARMER
Ramon Dacawi

BAGUIO CITY – Instead of tree seedlings, owners of new buildings here may soon have to plant saplings instead to increase the chances of survival of the mature trees they cut to give way for their constructions.

The city council is amending Ordinance 44-88 passed in 1988 that originally requires the planting of tree seedlings ranging from five to 20 depending on the size of the lot as a requirement for the issuance of occupancy permits covering new structures.

While the original focus of the amendatory ordinance, proposed by all of the members of the previous city council, many of whom were re-elected, was on the city’s supplying at least one-year old seedlings at a minimum cost of P50, discussions last Monday turned to the issue on tree survival. City councilor Perlita Rondez asked why the minimum age was set at one year and councilor Erdolfo Balajadia said the specification can be changed to sapling.

Foresters consider a young tree with a pencil-size stem to be a seedling and one with one meter or more in height as a sapling. A bigger one is called a pole if it has a stem of 10 to 20 centimeters in diameter.

The measure is likely to be passed, which means the city environment and parks management office (CEPMO) will have to increase its sapling production, using the P50 fee originally intended for seedling production. As it takes longer to produce saplings, the council is also likely to raise the fee when it resumes discussion of the amendatory ordinance it deferred action on for fine-tuning.

What about owners of buildings who do not have areas in their built-up lots? The measure provides that they “plant and maintain bonsai or ornamental trees, shrubs on their rooftops, porches, terraces or balconies…or plant the required number of trees …in watersheds or parks…. (to be) identified by the CEPMO”.

To ensure the implementation of the ordinance, the old ordinance quoted a provision of Ordinance 526-70”: “It shall be unlawful for any official or employee of the City Government of Baguio to disregard, contravene, deviate from or refuse to implement or execute any lawful ordinance or resolution duly enacted by the City Council or Baguio”. Councilor Edison Bilog suggested a fine of P5,000 and/or six months imprisonment as penalty

Before deferment of the amendatory ordinance, some members of the city council also wanted to provide penalties for non-compliance on the part of owners of new buildings. Meanwhile, the city council adopted a resolution of councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda asking the Benguet State University to assist the CEPMO in dealing with the infestation of pine trees in the city by a beetle.

First sighted in Abra and in fire-damaged areas years ago, the beetle, scientifically known as ips calligraphus, has resurfaced in Benguet, raising an alarm from Gov. Nestor Fongwan.
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The committee on ways and means and finance of the city council has endorsed two resolutions proposed by vice-mayor Daniel Farinas to develop the Burnham Park and the city’s engineered sanitary landfill (ESL)under either a build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme, or through loans, grants or joint venture agreements.

The committee headed by Farinas recommended authority for the city mayor to adopt these financing forms for the capital-intensive projects, given the limited financial capability of the city to implement these thrusts.

“In order that funding for other government projects shall not be sacrificed just for the implementation of one project alone, there is a need to adopt or implement or enter into valid transactions which can augment the present financial capability of the city government,” Farinas said in his twin proposals.

Under the BOT scheme, a private entity or investor constructs at its own expense a facility and then operate the same to recover its investment. On motion of councilor Perlita Rondez, the council Monday deferred action on the proposal pending receipt of and study by the local legislature of the two development plans.

Earlier, mayor Mauricio Domogan said the master plan for the development of the city’s main park prepared by the University of the Cordilleras may not be fully implemented because of the costs. He thanked the university for taking pains to prepare the plan that will be a guide for the actual park development, vis-à-vis the city’s financial capability to proceed with some of its features.

The city is pressed to establish the ESL to address Baguio ’s garbage problem on top of the development of clustered material recovery facilities for the city’s barangays and the need for an alternative to the expensive hauling of the city’s garbage to an ESL in Tarlac.

The mayor is also considering the purchase of two 24-ton capacity Japanese-made composting machines that can take in and convert to fertilizer the city’s average daily biodegradable waste.

City general services officer Romeo Concio said the Philippine office of the compost machine producer is willing to buy fertilizer churned out by the gadgets it offers, which would help the city recoup its investment in one and a half years. Domogan earlier announced that the city would also have to buy eight to 10 trucks to augment the units used in garbage collection. The mayor said the city will have to look into all offers, including one that harnesses methane from garbage for use as gas fuel.