The most recent word about SM Baguio City is that has revised its expansion plans and this will result in a lower number of pine trees affected. Apparently, just like the way they harked to Olivier Ochanine’s petition to save the Philamlife Theatre, SM seems to be showing that it is listening to and responding to its patrons’ sentiments.
Contrary to how a small group of people have tried to demonize SM, the mall and real estate giant is still very much like any other business in the sense that it must function within the bounds of the law and work to retain the good will of the communities where its properties are located. If at any instance SM had done anything flagrantly illegal or done anything to deliberately destroy the decades old good will it established with its shoppers, it would be extremely doubtful that it could have grown into a company that millions of Filipinos patronize every single day of the year.
SM Baguio City’s decision to revise its expansion plan so as to affect less pine trees was predictably lambasted by the likes of Calypso Alaia and lawyer Cheryl Daytec Yangot — the supposed force behind Project Save 182 or Boycott SM.
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After paring away all the superficiality of their “myopic environmentalism” and anti-mall culture, all the group really has to go on as a cause is the so-called environmental case they filed against SM Baguio City’s original expansion plan — which was rebuffed by the lower court and is now pending before the Court of Appeals.
Now here’s the thing, a lawyer friend says that SM Baguio City’s decision to revise its expansion plan may actually make the petition at the Court of Appeals moot since the subject of the petition — SM Baguio’s original expansion plan — no longer exists.
Of course, this won’t stop the Boycott SM Facebook group from passing the hat around and raise “donations” so they can file another case — perhaps so that they can sustain their cause and keep Daytec employed, visible, or somewhat in the limelight.
In the meantime, another friend who went up to Baguio City recently told me that SM Baguio was literally filled to the rafters with mall goers and as much as it pains me that people are losing sight of what being in Baguio City ought to be, the mess that the Philippine Summer Capital has become doesn’t leave people much choice.
Here are a number of things that every SM Mall gives to its patrons that every city in this country doesn’t give:
Clean, cool, well ordered, and lighted space. Where else can you have a respite from the heat, dirt, dinginess, and other blights you encounter walking on any city street in the Philippines?
Security. Notwithstanding all those urban legends that have been exposed as hoaxes and those sporadic ‘criminal incidents’ that have also happened in other malls, SM Malls are safer and more secure than places like… er… most other places in the Philippines.
Even the recent accident at the SM Mall of Asia where soggy gypsum boards from the ceiling of one of the mall’s over-hangs fell on an 11 year old boy proves just how SM provides its patrons ample security and assistance when needed. The mall’s security rushed to help the boy as soon as they were notified and applied first aid. After that, I was told that the boy was brought to a hospital where he was thoroughly checked and this included a CT Scan — of course, all fees and bills were taken care of by SM.
If such an incident happened in a place like Ermita or Malate or Escolta, do you think that boy would have gotten any sort of assistance? Most probably not.
There were other things I wanted to say here that would indicate that the Boycott SM Facebook Group — being moored precariously on a shallowly defined cause — is about to implode, but I think I’ll just wait for it to happen on its own.
Writer.
hay naku nagsulat na naman yung bobong bayaran ng sm???
if you think that we at ps182 is giving up on our fight to save the environment then you are dead wrong. calypso alaia is a hero along with mrs daytec, unlike you who are just a paid hack of satan mall.
so what if sm is redesigning they will still cut trees for their project, and we will not accept that because all trees are important. mother nature is crying for help and here you are supporting that satan mall??? you have no heart to say the least!!!
at wag mong sabihin na si grace bandoy or si lisa araneta ang friend mo dito sa baguio because those people are just dirty cap[italist whores with money to spend. they are not real lovers of baguio. isama mo na rin yung walang kwentang weird abnormal na dion fernandez na iyan.
paul farol, you will not distract ps182 from our ultimate goal. we will make sure that you and your idiot gang of paid hacks and haters of mother earth will perish in the battle that is to come!!!
MABHUAY ANG PS182!
wiccastillo,
Please stop trolling.
excuse me i’m not a troll, i’m a proud lover of baguio city. maybe your the troll because your beloved website keeps on talking about your beloved satan mall and how they destroy the environment. hanep, iba na talaga ang mga bayaran, patroll troll pa ang tawag sa amin!
why don’t you return back to the smelly bridge you come from. your the real tROLL.
First of all, its “You’re” not “Youre”.
Second, you suck and your organization sucks ass.
Third, Why on earth should we believe some relatively unknown organization like yours?
TROLL HARDER
Weh di nga? Empty words, empty words.
hahahaha
Empty words? Oh really now? Is that all you scum can do? Go back to humping trees, treehugging twat.
Sorry, but you’re the real TROLL. Just look at your comments.
CLASSLESS.
Hay naku, andito nanaman ang kulang sa pansin na dakilang tanga na taga PS182.
So many weirdos on the Internet, you’d think they were paid to do it. hehe
Ew… Where does PS182 get its members? The garbage heap?
This one probably comes from the uneducated lot in baguio.
This is why there is a revision of the original plan, maybe they have found out a way for nature and those expansion to co-exist.
Nothing wrong with protecting trees since I do believe it is a mountainous region and all and we don’t want another problem that is caused by deforestation, now there’s nothing wrong with expansion too since I believe that everyone may benefit from this.
Now anyway, if the revision calls for co-existence between the two entities then I guess everyone can go back home happy.
I feel sad for some of my friends who say they boycott SM but then they still go there to buy their stuff in which I find it hypocritical at best, there’s plenty of other malls out there that is not named SM which is able to cater their needs if they really wish to boycott SM.
Aside from the idiotic death threat this Castillo guy sounds like he wants to save the environment, especially the TREES. Negotiating with a corporation is one way to deal with the situation and chaining yourself to a tree is another, digging spikes into them so the guy who tries to chain saw through the tree gets his face ripped apart is yet another way to stop the killing of the TREES.I Dont care which you plan to do, BUT SAVING THE TRESS is what matters. The Corporation can go elsewhere and build a mall in a matter of months. A tree, a really strong one, can take a human life-time. With the way I have seen logging being done in Mindanao and elsewhere in the country and with the perpetual flooding that is occurring all over the country because the TREES are losing the battle for survival, I would have to say: SAVE THE TREES BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. The human race depends on them. Negotiating with SM? Do not trust corporations, just don’t trust ’em.
I think its important to save the remaining trees but for f*ck’s sake you don’t need to insult, bully and threaten people just to join your cause.
Only thugs,lowlife scum and insane people would do that although its already clear that this castillo guy is a thug, insane and a lowlife.
I agree, and stated as such. the Philippines is being raped by people who are sending the trees of Mindanao to foreign lands and the people are getting none of the profits, only the water (in the form of flood-waters washing their asses away in typhoons)invading their homes because the trees aren’t their anymore to drink it.
please, your words are empty. kayo po ang naglabas ng article na ito, tapos kami ang kulang sa pansin??? grow up.
no wonder nilalangaw ang get real philippines kasi nagiging delusional ang mga pananaw ninyo. you only think of yourself and not for your fellow men or even for nature all you think of is money, money and more money.
and totoo naman bayaran kayo eh, bakit lumalabas ang mga ad ng satan mall dito. mga walang asal!!!
Yeah right, why don’t you prove it then? Prove it that we’re “bayaran”.
Oh that’s right, YOU CAN’T.
You are wrong bucko, You are a troll and an extremely stupid one at that.
Go back to humping trees you stupid tree hugging f*ck.
hello, paul farol works for satan mall or at least worked there for a time. halata naman sa article na ito that he supports satan mall or siguro nagbubulag-bulagan ka lang. hanep talaga, wow i salute your brand of stupidity mr johny derp!
it is people like you who are destroying my beloved baguio city. im just happy that you live somewhere else kasi kung nalaman namin na andito ka we will make sure we will give you our unique brand of ps182 “welcome” for capitalist low life like you.
hahahaha
Oohhh, resorting to threats now are we? What are ya gonna do? CAPSLOCK ME TO DEATH?
Yeah right, low life scum like you would only threaten people on the internet. I salute your special brand of stupidity you stupid sack of shit.
P.S.
I’m not destroying baguio city, you are.
Your threats are empty like your claims. Besides, you haven’t proven your accusation until now.
TROLL HARDER, You dumbass
You officially have gone full retard, it’s no wonder your organization is falling apart
so much empty words again??? insecure ka ata mr johny derp, because unlike you we at ps182 know that its all about the trees and not just about one person!
we are united Ps182 is a mix-mix of folks from all walks of life…artists from different disciplines, lawyers, business people, musicians, engineers of different fields, doctors and medical practitioners, teachers, the religious, leftists, rightists, centrists, students, professionals, children, drivers, operators, preachers, christians, muslims, buddhists, policemen, security guards, magbabalot, magmamani, mestizos and mestizas, highlanders, lowlanders, educated, less educated, uneducated, people from the government sector as well as from the private sector, different persuasions, different agendas, different interests, friends and enemies and what-have-yous…
Its a lose coalition of people commonly bonded by their uncompromising love for mother nature and the environment.
Misunderstandings and differing opinions is inevitable and normal. But at the end of the day, we all want the same thing – Save the Trees and the Environment!
Let’s be wary of our detractors and unfriendly influences whose principal objective is to destroy our unity, break us apart, sow intrigues and malicious intents!
TOGETHER and UNITED, we will WIN over their machinations!
we at ps182 will continue fighting for the truth, not peddle in malicious lies and name calling like what your spilling right now.
You wanna save Baguio you tree fucker? You and the others better stop being such squatters on living in the mountains and find a decent home. You’re making Baguio look like Rio de Janeiro.
hahaha, what a loser.
You really should go back to humping trees, tree hugging twat.
You’re the insecure one, you are just in denial.
maybe you are the tree f___er because you like killing them. f___ you corporate scumbags!
hahaha
Better yet, go back to making love to a potted plant since it’s the only one that can get you laid.
Corporate scumbags?
Is that the best insult you have, you tree humping twat?
Seriously? You claim that I’m killing them? So, by commenting here, you say that I’m killing baguio city and killing trees?
Wow, you really went full retard with that logic.
Seriously, you should lay off the crazy pills.
Para namang nakakatakot kayung sira ulo na taga PS182. So you mean to say that you’re gonna try to kill me once im in baguio? That statement alone shows how uncivilised you are.
The police in baguio should hear how you guys threaten to kill people online.
No wonder why Baguio usually suffers from gang wars every night. Maybe this tree fucker here is one of them.
Maybe he likes f*cking trees because they are the only ones that can give him wood(hah!).
“…capitalist low life like you.”
If it wasn’t for capitalists, none of us would be using the Internet, seeing as we would not have access points–computers–readily available. Think about that.
He means ‘crony-capitalist’ scumbags, but probably hasn’t heard the term yet. Capitalism does not exist anymore. ‘Crony-capitalism’ is the scumbag cancer that has replaced it, and it must be cut out and removed, like the cancer that it is.
Natawa naman ako sa yo. So, pare-pareho tayong mga langaw kasi binibisita pa rin natin ang getreal?
Ewan ko sa yo, pero ako nagbabasa ako dito para makakuha ng information. Nasa akin na kung paano ko ida-digest. Hindi kailangan maniwala kung ayaw. I form my own opinion after reading A LOT other than getreal.
How about you? Ano’ng klaseng langaw ka? 😉
As to this blogpost, may dagdag akong info (dahil nagbabasa ako ng ibang websites): parang nag-aaway away na nga ang PS182 “leaders”. Read this: http://kmaltomonte.blogspot.com/2013/09/in-response-to-mr-michael-bengwayans.html
Like I said before, I’m not surprised anymore to see the organization PS182 tearing itself apart with that kind of nutty attitude.
i wonder why the moderator of this website continues to keep racist comments against the people of baguio city. mr johny derp is obviously against baguio city why is it that he is not getting reprimanded for his racism against the TRUE citizens of this beloved city???
I’m not being racist you stupid sack of shit.
You’re being too extremist my retarded “friend”.
Better lay off the meds man, it’s messing with your tiny mind.
What makes this and the other articles racist? Please cite specifics plez.
pinoy nga naman oo ginagamit muna palagi ang puso hindi ang utak.
Jeez, calling my comments racist without any proof.
Very predictable trash talk coming from trash like you.
weh, baka ikaw ang TRASH diyan. your racist because you think your insulting the people of baguio city but also your a self hating paid hack of satan mall.
you think baguio city is full of just tree F___ers, e ano nga ba yan kundi racist???
bravo, mr johny derp, not only are you stupid your also in denial! bravo talaga saludo ako sobra!!!!!!!!!
Where did I say in my comment that baguio city is full of tree f*ckers?
By the way, I was referring to YOU, you tree humping idiot.
Your reading comprehension is seriously lacking.
You seriously are a piece of TRASH. I’m not surprised to see that your group is falling apart with that kind of attitude.
Seriously, your threats are not scaring anyone here. FYI, you are doing your group more harm than good by threatening people
like i said your just empty words blah blah blah blah blah.
hahahahaha
*yawns*
Your attempts at insults are very amusing to read but in reality they are just empty like YOU.
Just stick to posting “blah blah blah” since all you do is post recycled insults.
What a pathetic wretch you are.
Baguioites are not a race.
gusto ko lang malaman kung ano pang environmentalist stuff ang ginawa ni wiccastillo to prove ang pagmamahal niya sa Baguio, aside from being part of ps 182….
Kilala mo ba si Wiccastillo? Do you have his address?
I think I have a pretty good idea who SHE is. This is often how the most vocal of Save 182’s leaders writes on her Facebook page.
(I heard she stayed in Thailand for a while.)
Their cause just doesn’t connect to environmentalism and if at all they have a cause it is really to bring down SM.
And yet they neglect to take a look at Camp John Hay, Moldex, or the rampant squatter problem infestation in Baguio City.
yeah, Paul, it is really so disheartening what they did to CJH after the americans left.
You should have seen it then and tried their all american ice cream on a drizzly Sunday afternoon. Now it is heavily commercialized. I wonder who benefits from all of these commercialization while I know that CJH is government owned. So why pick on SM only? The CJH developers surely have cut more than 182 trees.
may ibang kaso pa ba silang na file that are also environmental? or is the one against sm lang?
in what other tree cuttings in Baguio did they express their oppositions to? or yung sa sm lang ba? kasi ang environmentalist hindi dapat selective di ba? lahat ng mga pinuputol na kahoy dapat ang iligtas mo kung environmentalist ka…..
All bark but no bite, is that really all ps182 can do?
Trolling blogs, threatening and “bullying” people online?
Weak insults,weak logic, and low intelligence, How can you expect people to take you guys seriously if you keep acting like that?
Some people only understand one thing.
So, Tree-Humper a.k.a. wiccastillo, If we are to go by your logic, you are implying that people that buy things from SM malls are destroying the environment and you also implying that the people that attend mass at SM malls are destroying baguio trees as well.
That kind of thinking really won’t earn you any credibility here.
Another epic fail from wiccastillo. He reminds me of activists who fights against tyranny and capitalism, but hey, wait? Look how lavishly they are dressed with that expensive Lacoste shirt, and Gucci sunglasses, and Sketchers, and running around town screaming, “Emperialismo ibagsak!”
Such an irony. He speaks of love for the environment and Baguio–but the way he bullies and writes and call people names, the way he insults people around, hmmm such questionable ethics…hmmm inconsistent.
Makes me think what PS182 is really all about. Well, birds of the same feather flock together….hmmm…
I know a lot of people at PS182, but non of them, as far as I know, acts the way wiccastillo does. Odd one out?
I just wish he really does walk the “passionate” talk. I wonder, what he has really done for Baguio? Sige nga? I-bombard mo kami ng lahat ng ginawa mo para sa Baguio at ikabubuti ng lahat? Kung nagawa mo yun wiccastillo, sasaludo na ako sa iyo. So….? I’m all ears.
It’s hard to believe that someone acting like a total douche is a representative of PS182. They clearly didn’t check his mental instability before sending him to post on this blog.
According to Save 182, everyone is an equal in their group (meaning no leaders, no followers). Technically, this also means they have no credible representatives.
Everyone is equal in their group…so everyone is equally insane/ax crazy in their group as well or is it only wiccastillo that’s the insane one?
This issue, like the other one (on Philamlife Theater), proves that douchebaggery should not be confused with real activism.
@ wiccastillo
I am, as you would say, Baguio boy. I have seen Baguio transform from a quiet city in the highlands to a city similar to Rio de Janeiro. I have planted countless number of trees as compliance to the requirement of then president, the “evil dictator”. I was there, through countless typhoons and earthquakes.
As far as I can see, what ruined Baguio was people who flocked and decided to settle there, knowing that the tiny city can only take so much people in. They have, in effect, displaced your precious pine trees, massive land reforming causing landslides. I can still remember the mountainsides still with pine trees covering them, but now, it is replaced with unsightly houses.
What I am saying is, it is just nonsense to point your finger at SM as the most evil, most un-green corporation, while it is the people like you who just happened to prefer to live in Baguio who are to blame for the city’s destruction. SM is just a manifestation of people like you, otherwise there wouldn’t be a mall there if the city’s population stayed well within it’s limits.
Now, wicastillo, can you tell mo you are one of the original settlers here? If you are not then you are part of the city’s problem. Go home to your original place of birth and let Baguio be. That is the only way to save the city that you say you love.
As for me, my family has roots in Baguio as far back as the 1930’s. So quit whining.
I treat Baguio even more as a tourist spot than a city. I went there when I was a kid 3 times.
It’s sad that Baguio is starting to become Metro Manila because of the people there. 2 years ago two of my mother’s cellphones were snatched so sometimes it’s dangerous to go there.
Same problem as Manila… OVERCROWDING. That’s what usually ruins a city.
To be more precise — BAD PLANNING is what destroys communities. Lower populations are always more manageable. However, greater importance should be placed on the proper management of human spaces. It isn’t simply a matter of limiting the number of people per square meter of land.
True. Though I wonder if it’s bad planning… or NO planning, as a friend mentioned.
Fail to plan, plan to fail.
It’s often the case in the Philippines where THERE IS a plan at the outset. Over time, planning and/or the regulatory infrastructure is disregarded or fails to keep up with the changing environment. Or political considerations trump the practical aspects of planning and implementation.
I’ve been doing papers lately on conflict, and textbooks (Try Wilmot and Hocker, or Cahn and Abigail) I’ve read tell me that conflict is better handled through open communication with the other side – not through smut or defamation. PS 182 is doing the latter, and thus they’ve apparently done it wrong. The other party who followed Oliver Ochinane’s example and held a dialogue with SM won out. They did it right. See what works – it’s proven through this very telling example of SM Baguio and the trees.
@Paul Farol, Do not be so quick as to think that SM is doing what they are doing for a good reason. I have seen many times where a seemingly beneficent court resolution turned out to be for the biggest benefit of the people seemingly making the beneficent move in the first place. The U.S. Congress is very good at passing legislation that supposedly is in the best interest of its citizens and then , often years later, it turns out that it is not that way at all. TRUST NO ONE, especially a corporation.
If SM decided to not kill any trees at all, that MIGHT be admirable.
Then the real environmentalists should just keep watch and keep giving feedback to SM on what they are doing. Badmouthing SM without talking to them is not admirable either.
I did not say it was.
@Bjorn
Isn’t the change an act of basically what is called a compromise?
To expect them to make an omelet without breaking a few eggs is unrealistic. However, to expect them to only break a few eggs instead of all the eggs in the chicken coop is realistic.
True, no one is a saint, not even the environmentalists. But we should just remember that we can choose to work with each other instead of just simply opting to work against each other.
My two cents.
if SM keeps their word, then they keep it and that is admirable. From what I have seen in the Philippines, keeping ones word is a rarity.
Look guys. Another save 182 hypocrite:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151758542461342&set=a.152744166341.114935.149721676341&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf
3 years later, nobody knows what happened to this wiccastillo retard. 3 years later, we’re still here, not even threatened or even hunted down by members of that group save 182.
Suffice to say, we still have the last laugh over wiccastillo.