The petitioners’ lead counsel Cristopher Donaal questioned statements of defense witnesses City Building and Architecture Officer Engineer Oscar Flores and SM Supermalls vice president for operations Engineer Bien Mateo after different reports on the height of the mall expansion.
Donaal cited inconsistencies in documents presented by SM Prime Holdings Inc. to Flores, who stated in his judicial affidavit that if there are false statements in the application for the building permit, he has the authority to suspend or revoke the permit issued.
The prosecution lawyer said it was clearly stated in the building and sanitation permit that the building was four stories but Mateo already earlier testified “the structure was nine floors above ground without basement as seen from Governor Pack Road.”
“Nine levels above ground is nine levels. They tried to explain by showing the plan and it appears it had four stories in front from Governor Pack, five stories at the back for the parking space with roof deck. But looking at the plan alone it looks like it is five stories high than four stories,” he said.
Flores said he reviewed the mall expansion plan by making a cursory look at the submitted documents of the proponent but his technical division staff already made an in-depth review of the plans presented, which he claimed merits approval of a building permit.
Flores added that based on the plan submitted by SM, there was no infraction on the part of the mall in terms of violating zoning requirement, as it conformed to the height limit in the area of six floors based on its C1 zoning classification.
“Actually, SM lacks details in their application form. They should have indicated that one section is four floors, another section is three floors and another section is five floors. Their entries are just deficient but are not wrong. They should have completed the entries in their application. But this is not a problem for SM. What will prevail are the building plans and structural design. That is only an application form and the mall expansion is still within the approved building height based on zoning,” Flores said.
The building official also said there is no violation on the part of SM as far as the National Building Code is concerned as it has complied with the height requirement in the area which is 19.5 meters.
Meanwhile, SMPHI defense lawyer Chrysilla Carissa Bautista explained the design of the mall expansion building is homogenous, consisting of only one building.
She said the mall expansion building consists of retail and parking spaces. She added that Flores, in his testimony, also cleared SM on its five-story parking spaces as this he said are much lower than the conventional mall floors and are compliant with zoning and building height requirement.
The defense lawyer also clarified statements of Mateo claiming the SM Baguio will be of nine floors, as she explained what the SM executive was referring in his testimony are the existing mall and the new one to be built.
Meanwhile, in the hearing last Friday, another defense witness from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) testified that seven of the 182 pine trees that will be earth-balled are already infested by Ips calligraphus or pine beetle based on their inspection last April 2.
Ngaloy said the pine beetle infestation in the Baguio-Benguet area are not only at Luneta Hill but also in areas such as Botanical Garden, Wright Park, Sunshine Park, GSIS Tree park, Dominican Hill, Camp John Hay and Tinongdan in Itogon, among other areas.
Beetle infestation, she said, is often manifested in overcrowded pine forested areas where beetles transfer from tree to tree.
She said the Ips calligraphus infestation dates back as far as 1959 in Baguio when the first case was discovered in the city.
The infestation, she said, is identified through the pin holes and thrusts made by the beetles that emit pheromones to attract other beetles for reproduction on the trees as they eat the cambium layer of the tree. This results in the yellowing, browning and eventual wilting of the pine tree.
She said the DENR’s recommendation to Ips beetle infested trees are sanitation cutting of the infected portions, debarking the trees and burning of the infected areas to prevent the cycle and reproduction of beetles. As proven by studies, pesticides are ineffective in treating the trees.
Ngaloy testified the infestation report was submitted to the regional director of the DENR-Ecosystem Management Bureau and that no recommendations were given to SM.
Bautista said they presented Ngaloy as witness because they had to conduct sanitation cutting, which has since been halted by the ongoing Temporary Environmental Protection Order to prevent pine trees from being further infested by beetles.
Save 182 convener Karlo Marko Altomon-te said if SM was sincere in addressing the Ips beetle infestation in Luneta Hill, they should have already included ways to prevent infestation prior to the issuance of the earth balling permit on April 9.
“We made [a] research that it is not only though sanitation cutting, debarking and burning that can be done. Pwede rin protektahan ang malulusog na pine tree sa area to prevent transfer of the pine beetle sa ibang puno,” he said.
He added the Ips calligraphus populate during the summer than during the rainy season.
“DENR approving earth balling activities on April 9 was irresponsible because that heightened the risk of transfer during summer. Disturbing infected trees during summer months will risk transfer of beetles to healthy trees in the area,” Altomonte said.
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