The Baguio City Council is investigating the death of over a hundred pine trees within the construction site of a five-star hotel in Pucsusan Barangay amid concerns about environmental compliance and the project’s impact on the surrounding area. The issue has fueled suspicions that the tree deaths were “intentional.”
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Cordillera Administrative Region (DENR-CAR) reports that 51 trees have died, and 46 more are at risk due to the construction undertaken by Sol Marina Incorporated (SMI), a Caloocan-based company. These affected trees are separate from the 52 and 41 pine trees felled in 2022 and 2023 respectively which were under tree-cutting permits issued to the company by DENR-CAR.
Punong Barangay Karl Gabaen claimed the number of dead pine trees, as per their manual counting, is more than a hundred which exceeds the reported 51 dead trees and 46 dying ones.
Gabaen cited environmental and safety concerns including inadequate slope protection, lack of a proper drainage system, and failure to implement mitigating measures against natural calamities which have led to mudslides and damage, affecting downstream communities in Outlook Drive Barangay and even Itogon.
The construction of the five-star hotel is about 60-percent complete. The SMI-owned property spans 17,000 sqm, with the hotel’s construction footprint covering approximately 4,000 sqm.
The project has been issued development permits, an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC), a clearance from the Lower Agno Watershed Forest Reserve-Protected Area Management Board (LAWFR-PAMB), and a barangay certificate of no objection from the previous barangay council which was then led by former Punong Barangay Richard Mendoza.
The recent investigation done by DENR-CAR revealed that large amounts of soil piled at the bases of the trees had caused significant disturbance. In its report, DENR-CAR warned that piling soil around a tree can severely impact its health and survival by restricting oxygen and water to the roots, mechanically damaging the trunk, and making it more vulnerable to pests and diseases.
During the regular session of the Baguio City Council on March 17, 2025, Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda, chairperson of the city council’s Committee on Health and Sanitation, Ecology, and Environmental Protection, described the current state of the dead trees as a “deliberate effort to kill them.”
Tabanda questioned the scraping of the trees’ bark, expressing skepticism about whether the damage was truly caused by soil piling around them. She also disputed the DENR-CAR representatives’ claim that the scraping resulted from the company’s construction equipment, noting that the affected trees were clustered together.
SMI representatives denied deliberately killing the trees but failed to provide a clear explanation for their death.
“Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, a hundred trees have been reported dead and affected, and we are not certain of the cause,” SMI General Manager Elmer Lina said.
Project Engineer Marlon Catantan clarified that they did not cut trees illegally, stating that all felled trees were covered by the two tree-cutting permits in 2022 and 2023. However, they admitted that the trees reported as dead and at risk were likely affected by their construction activities.
The SMI representatives later attributed the scraping of bark to dust from their excavation and soil improvement, but Tabanda questioned this, noting that the trees had inexplicably withered all at once.
The SMI representatives also said the company had already commissioned a landscaping agency for on-site recovery efforts and upcoming tree-planting activities. They added that they would be working closely with DENR-CAR and the punong barangay, attributing the previous lack of solid coordination with the authorities to their communication team.
Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan further questioned how the trees could have died without any deliberate attempt to kill them. He urged compliance with legal tree-cutting requirements instead of evading accountability through deception.
Meanwhile, Councilor Peter Fianza questioned DENR-CAR regarding their monitoring of trees affected by the development. He pointed out that while the agency had initially identified the number of dead and disturbed trees, they failed to revisit the site, raising concerns about whether further tree destruction had gone unchecked. Fianza also challenged the claim that the tree deaths were merely incidental to development, arguing that such a large number of affected trees suggested a more severe impact. Additionally, he directed the agency to conduct a reassessment and submit a report detailing the remaining tree count compared to the original inventory which he described as “limited” as it only focused on the trees permitted for cutting rather than all existing ones.
According to DENR-CAR, the death of the trees in question falls under the National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS) Act or RA 11038.
Section 20 of the Act states that poaching, killing, destroying, or disturbing any wildlife including those in private lands within protected areas is prohibited.
After its investigation, DENR-CAR issued a notice of violation and a cease and desist order which SMI received on March 14, 2025 and gave the company five days to explain why it should not be charged for violating the NIPAS Act. The agency is now evaluating all available records and will await the submission of additional documents before filing a case against the company for violating Section 20 of the NIPAS Act.
Simultaneously with DENR-CAR’s cease and desist order, the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) also ordered the project to stop due to the construction’s damage to the trees. After gathering evidence, CEPMO submitted all documents to the City Legal Office for review and the preparation of an affidavit complaint.
In light of the March 17 dialogue, the city council approved the following motions to ensure compliance and safety in the ongoing development project: SMI was directed to submit its development permit, tree-cutting permits, and other required documents; the company was also urged to implement stringent safety measures to mitigate risks, especially during heavy rains; a status quo was imposed on dried-up trees as they may serve as potential evidence for further investigations; and the City Building and Architecture Office (CBAO) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) were tasked with reporting on building permits, fencing permits, and excavation concerns. **Jordan G. Habbiling
