Some pro-Duterte vloggers who were invited by the House of Representatives to shed light on their dissemination of alleged fake news were cited in contempt for their refusal to attend the hearing.
The vloggers, led by a certain Ernesto S. Abines Jr., ran to the Supreme Court to question the legality of the contempt order.
Unfortunately for the vloggers, the Highest Court of the land, in a ruling penned by Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier, dismissed the petition, saying that inviting the vloggers to a House hearing “does not violate their freedom of speech, because it is not the same as restricting their right to express opinions.”
Now we are certain what these vloggers will say next. They’ll surely cry that the administration is trampling on their right to dissent.
Perhaps it is worth reminding some of our fellow citizens that one’s rights end where others’ rights begin.
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The regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Region 7 claimed in a radio interview that there were massive tree-cuttings in the development of a high-end mountain-side subdivision in Cebu City.
Residents in the lowlands located below the posh housing subdivision claim that the development, which virtually rendered some 143 hectares bald, was the major cause of the flood that submerged their community at the height of typhoon Tino.
Based on the statement of the officials interviewed on a local radio station, it was clear that they only knew of the massive tree cutting when the office investigated the assertion of the affected residents.
So, when the developer of the high-end hillside subdivision applied for a permit to develop the place, the agency and all other government offices that have the authority to approve or reject the application just gave their imprimatur without conducting a site visit?
Did the agencies’ technical people just rely on the narrative of the developer and the design of the development project?
Did not the DENR in that Central Visayas province conduct consultations with the stakeholders in the area?
Imagine a city where almost every inch of space in its lowland is occupied by residential or commercial structures, and has that kind of site development that compromises the communities down under!
It is our take that whoever was the head of the approving agencies of that kind of nature’s destruction for commercial purposes must be held accountable for their devastating action.
In the same vein, in our very own Davao City, we are now witnessing several similar developments of high-end residential enclaves. The local developments in the hillsides of Magtuod may not be as grandiose as those of Cebu. But it could be potentially as destructive – or even more – than that of Cebu’s Monterazza.
Actually, we have not heard of any report that the DENR XI, the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) of Davao City, the City Planning Office, and the Davao City Council are conducting on-site monitoring of the development activities.
We also do not have any idea if the mentioned offices or agencies were presented with the perspective of the development. But now that the development activities are in full swing, the areas affected are already devoid of trees.
We could only wonder if any of the agencies concerned have ever managed to count the number of trees cut, or come up with even just a rough estimate of the volume of soil that will be eroded every time rain hits the area.
There is, however, one thing that we can be certain about. The rainwater that rolls through the treeless hills augmented with future household wastewater will all go to the plains in Waan and Tigatto on one side, and into the gorge leading to a creek that empties its water directly to the Diversion Road down to Maa on the opposite side.
We can only imagine the possible scenarios from there.
