The law, the people say: Mayor, spare the trees!

The Winner Foundation is not even pointing out that a building for teachers will rake in thousands of votes. Its claim, which is buttressed by signed documents, is that Mayor Lito Atienza is blatantly violating a contract by having the aforementioned building constructed in the Arroceros Forest Park.

What a pity! What a shame!

Through eight years, the environmentalists have planted 3,5000 trees on an area of 21,428 square meters; 150 trees have been standing there much earlier, some of them over a century ago. Park trees include molave, narra, mahogany, balete, kamagong, acacia, palomaria, rain, fire rubber, banyan trees, dapdap, champaca, ilang-ilang, eucalyptus, teak, anahaw, etc. Alfo fruit trees like mango, santol, guava, aratilis, banana, avocado, caimito and macopa.

The lush greenery in the heart of Manila is a refuge from pollution which causes the slow death of two million Manila residents yearly.

In addition to the widely diverse trees and plants which botanists study, the Park has at least six species of birds, among them the Long Tailed Shrike, Brown Shrike, Zebra Dove, Pacific Swallow, Yellow Vented Bulbul and Pied Fantail. Arguably, the Park is the only bird-watching site in Metro Manila.

The terms of a contract drawn between Winner Foundation and the City of Manila signify that the Arroceros Forest Park is certainly not to be defaced or destroyed. Three of the terms of the valid, subsisting and binding contract, as per the Memorandum of Agreement dated Nov. 19, 1993, follow:

"1. The City Manila hereby authorizes WINNER to create and develop a forest park in the DECS Property in accordance with the plans that have been previously presented by WINNER to and approved by the City of Manila.

Winner hereby agrees to create and develop the aforestated forest park in the DECS Property in accordance with the plans that have been previously presented by WINNER to and approved by the City of Manila. WINNER shall have the sole authority and responsibility of creating and developing the forest park, and supervision and control of the personnel hired by it to create and develop the forest park. Once WINNER has completed and developed the aforestated forest park, it shall turn over the same to the control and supervision of the City of Manila which agrees to maintain, operate and secure the park at its own expense and solely as a forest park with the original purpose that the First Lady, Mrs. Amelita M. Ramos, had envisioned."

The Winner Foundation logically concludes: "From the foregoing, it is clear and indubitable that pending formal turnover of the Arroceros Forest Park to the City of Manila, the WINNER Foundation shall have the sole and exclusive authority and supervision of the park until the completion of its fifteen-year development plan.

"Arroceros Forest Park being one of the few remaining green spaces of the City, it is mandatory that it be preserved for future generations." The Park, therefore, should not be used for any purpose other than that for which it was created.

Metro Manila residents are grateful to nationalistic, concerned, civic-minded citizens – Regina Paterno, Lolita Pellicer, et al. – who continue to campaign against the construction of the teachers’ building although, I’m told, gates to the Park have been padlocked – hitherto, entrance to it was free – and the cutting of trees has actually started!

Why doesn’t Secretary of Tourism Dick Gordon join the campaign? The Winner Foundation aims to make the Park a tourist attraction with a lagoon, a café for strollers, hanging bridges, tree houses, etc. Regina and Lolita, among other undaunted, sanguine souls, contend: "All these remain a dream, but with everyone’s determined help, we will achieve what seems impossible."