Architect gives up $1M in protest

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT, Philippines—For his belief in protecting the environment, architect and urban planner Felino Palafox Jr. lost what could have been six months of payroll worth $1 million (P48.8 million).

Palafox said he had broken ties with a Korean-backed project in this free port after he learned that more than 300 trees would be destroyed to give way to a casino and hotel resort.

“There are 366 trees there, and 37 of them are century-old, so they are heritage trees already. The reason why I broke with that group (Grand Utopia Inc.) is because I refuse to compromise myself and the environment,” Palafox told the Inquirer by interview on Friday.

“I would have gotten $1 million—six months worth of payroll. But that’s rape of the environment,” he said.

“Frankly, in Korea, a project like this will never be allowed. Their government and people will not allow it. But here, government officials let it happen and we are treated like second class citizens,” he said.

Not his work

Palafox said a foreign architectural firm tapped him to design Grand Utopia’s casino hotel but in the end, he noted, it all amounted to being asked to sign on other people’s work.

“They wanted my name and license, asked me to put my name on the work of others. They have to be investigated for that. No foreign architect can practice in another country without a license,” he said.

Palafox said the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority is “trying to get away from the issue.”

“They said in their letter to Eric Park of Grand Utopia that the area was classified as an urban jungle zone. How can they build several levels of basement garages there if they won’t get rid of the trees?” he asked.

SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza, however, said the agency would protect trees inside the free port and would exert all efforts to save these amid the development of the $120-million Ocean 9 Casino and Hotel Resort.

SBMA promise

“We won’t stand for the cutting of trees. Definitely, we won’t allow it,” said Arreza.

Amethya dela Llana-Koval, head of the SBMA Ecology Center, said the project site is within the central business district of the free port zone that is not classified as a protected area.

“We only characterized that area as an urban jungle because it was densely populated by trees. But the zoning of that area is commercial, so there should really be no objection to establishments being built there,” Koval said.

‘Green spaces’

She said no trees would be cut in that area, a former mini golf course established by the United States Navy here.

“No trees will be cut. That’s our policy. What we’re going to do is ball the trees, nurture them, and place them in ’green spaces’ within the free port. Some of them will even be left in the area, around the perimeter of the proposed establishment,” she said.

The relocated trees, Koval said, would be taken to the “green spaces” or areas where no or minimal development are allowed.

She said the SBMA has given Grand Utopia a demolition permit and a temporary fencing permit. The firm does not have any authority to touch any of the trees in the area, she said.

“They have applied for permits to ball (transplant) the trees, but they have yet to submit the balling plan. The relocation areas are already identified and by the time the environmental compliance certificate has been issued to Grand Utopia—probably by December this year if they comply with all requirements —then the relocation of the trees can begin,” she said.

Koval said the casino and hotel resort project is considered by the SBMA as “non-critical,” which means that the ecology center can issue an ECC to Grand Utopia without the need of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to approve it.

“It is within the jurisdiction of the SBMA, but we will coordinate with the DENR,” she said. By Robert Gonzaga - Inquirer Central Luzon Desk