THE SM management has assured the public that its redevelopment plan will be pursued under the authority and supervision of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and other government agencies following the court’s dismissal of the environment cases and the lifting of the temporary environment protection order (Tepo) it issued against the company in a decision released by the court on December 12.

In a 20-page decision dated December 3, Judge Antonio Esteves of Branch 5 of the Regional Trial Court in Baguio City dismissed the petitions filed by the Cordillera Global Network, Cordillera Peoples Alliance, Cordillera Indigenous Peoples Legal Center and Cordillera Ecological Pine Tree Center against SM Investments Corp., SM Prime Holdings Inc. and SM Supermalls and also lifted the Tepo issued on April 10.

The court ruled there was no irregularity in the issuance of the amended environmental compliance certificate, tree cutting and earthballing permit, building permit and zoning clearance and that the relevant rules were followed in the company’s planned expansion project which will entail the earthballing of 82 pine and alnus trees. It also affirmed the company’s position that the legal and environmental requirements were complied with. 

The court also noted the failure of the petitioners to exhaust administrative remedies by appealing to the offices of the DENR and the Department of Public Works and Highways before filing their petition with the courts.

The court, one of the special environment courts or “green courts” designated by the Supreme Court to dispatch all environmental cases, ruled that the 

petitioners failed to substantiate their claims that the expansion project of the company will cause irreparable damage to the environment and to Baguio citizens.

SM Spokesman and lead counsel Chrysilla Carissa Bautista said the company will continue supporting the common mission to ensure environmental sustainability through its energy, water and air conservation programs.

“At the same time, the company remains true to its commitment to provide its customers with world-class and innovative service that is globally certified,” Bautista said.

She said SM Baguio’s redevelopment plan will be implemented according to all possible environmental considerations. 

Project Save 182, which is in the frontline of the petition, said it will be filing a motion for reconsideration of the decision and they are prepared to appeal up to the Supreme Court as they maintained the removal of the trees on Luneta Hill will endanger the health and the lives of the residents, particularly the students in the schools located in the immediate vicinity of the expansion site.

“While we in the Save 182 movement respect the decision handed down by the honorable court, we strongly disagree with the same and vow to exhaust all other legal remedies available to us in our struggle to stand up and speak for the trees on Luneta Hill, which stand defenseless against a corporate entity’s apparent insatiable hunger for more money,” Karlo Marko Altomonte of Save 182 said.