On Atienza Becoming DENR Chief

Sometimes, no matter how I cram this blog with crap about movies and comics and other inanities, I can't help but let something relevant sneak in time and again.

I am not, nor have I ever been a resident of Manila (though I did work there for nearly two years, and may yet again someday), but I am one with many of them in their outrage over the appointment of their former Mayor Lito Atienza as the head of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Five years ago, while I was still a law student, I held down a part-time job as an internet journalist. My 'beat' was Manila and three of its historic landmarks: Mehan Garden, the Metropolitan Theater, and the Arrocerros (sp?) Garden, all of which fell prey to Atienza's ambitions.

Mehan Garden, of significant historical value, especially in view of the recent excavation of pre-colonial implements and tools, was the first to suffer as a school campus was erected right smack on it (notably next to a shopping mall, an act which would have violated quite a few local ordinances). Ironically, the people working on the campus buildings resisted attempts by the DENR to get them to cease and desist the construction.

The Metropolitan Theater was next; Atienza's ambition was to erect a 'Park 'n' Ride' right next to one of the city's few remaining art-deco buildings. Conservationists opposed it because it would obscure the building, but at the end of the day, almighty Atienza prevailed again.

But his biggest sin, that which makes his appointment as DENR Secretary an absolute travesty, is how he handed over Arroceros park over to several public school teachers and allowed them to erect a 'teachers' camp.' By the time incumbent Mayor Alfredo Lim upon rescuing Manila from a potential dynasty spearheaded by Atienza's son Ali, turned Arrocerros back over to the conservationists, the damage had been done; 70% of its trees had been chopped down, and a lot more would have fallen had it not been returned to the people determined to save them.

It's not unlike making Jack the Ripper the chief of police, really. What's truly scary about that sentiment is that if he kissed GMA's ass as much as Atienza did while in office, quite frankly, she probably would make him chief of police and then some.

I don't know what there is to say other than that this really shouldn't be happening, but I understand the people of Manila aren't taking this sitting down. While I wouldn't really give much for their chances of success in getting the appointment revoked, I wish them all well.