‘Environmental corruption’ slammed

OLONGAPO CITY – The architect who withdrew from a $120-million casino-hotel project at the Subic Bay Freeport in protest of tree-cutting there returned on Saturday to talk with local community and continue his crusade against “environmental corruption.”

“We just tried to save those trees and we opened a can of worms of corruption. I’m just here to tell the truth – for God, for our country, the planet earth and future generations,” Felino Palafox Jr. told religious leaders, environmental advocates, residents and students.

He was referring to plans of the Korean firm, Grand Utopia Inc., to cut or transfer trees so it could build a casino-hotel in a forested patch inside the free port.

Speaking at the Columban College here, Palafox said a letter from concerned employees of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority in July last year alerted him about the plan to cut trees in the project site.

Palafox said he was tapped by Yamasaki, the firm that made the basic design of the casino-hotel, as local architect and environmental planner. “We realized that the reason they (Yamasaki) got us is so they could use my name and my license for their designs,” he said.

At that time, Palafox told his staff that it was the firm’s choice to accept $1 million and destroy the trees. “But the field of architecture is a noble profession. If we accept that, I told them, then we are no better than prostitutes,” he said.

In November, Palafox quit from the project, because of the issue of cutting more than 300 trees.

He said SBMA officials had also threatened to sue him for disclosing an extortion attempt by a member of the agency’s bids and awards committee in connection with the port’s master development plan project.

“I just wanted to save the trees, not to destroy other people’s reputation,” he said. “But now, I have death treats from corrupt officials of the SBMA. They are trying to scare me and discredit me so that when I am called by the Senate to testify, then I will no longer have any credibility.”

Sen. Pia Cayetano asked Sen. Jamby Madrigal, chair of the Senate environment committee, to conduct an inquiry on the plan to cut trees in the casino-hotel site.

Palafox said SBMA officials also gave mixed signals to the public and investors on the project. He referred to varying accounts of SBMA officials on the number and sizes of trees in the area and the supposed corruption involving SBMA officials whom he did not name.

“There is really a grand deception here. Some people in the SBMA tell me that there is corruption here. But Subic belongs to all Filipinos and not to a few corrupt SBMA officials,” he said.

A group led by the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP) visited the project site on Saturday and was met by Arreza and SBMA officials.

“Granting that the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) has already revoked or suspended their authority to issue ECC and other permits as required by environmental laws, I think the DENR’s review, study and recommendation will be very crucial in the next days,” said Fr. Junvic Dialito, AMRSP executive director.

“We will wait and monitor the result of the DENR review of the site and of the project. So far we have seen that the trees are still standing, thank God. I think that’s the result of the exposé that has been made,” Dialito said.

By Robert Gonzaga - Inquirer