THE revocation by the Cebu City Council of the special permits issued to Globe Telecom and Sun Cellular that allowed them to set up cell sites in Calvary Hills, Barangay Apas is an interesting twist in the city’s effort to embrace advances in modern technology.
The issue can be tackled on different levels, the legal one being the most visible. Mayor Michael Rama’s comment that the City Council cannot revoke a permit it didn’t issue reflects this. The telecommunication firms are also most likely to seek legal remedies if they are forced to remove their towers from Calvary Hills.
But there’s also the matter of precedent, and with it the shaping of public perception. Indeed, what’s to prevent other villages hosting cell sites not only in the city but also in the province from doing what the Calvary Hills residents did, which was to pressure local government officials to revoke special permits already granted years ago?
Which brings us to the matter of public perception. Are these cell sites safe? Or do the cell sites pose danger to human health, like increasing the likelihood of residents getting sick with cancer?
In the Calvary Hills case, scientific finding clashed with people’s belief. In clashes like this, the former always prevails but apparently not in this one. While scientific studies support the conclusion that cell sites do not cause cancer, there also has been no effort to reconcile this with the Calvary Hill folks’ claim that it does, or did.
There is, for example, the claim by the Calvary Hills Apas Residents Association (Charo) that since 2000, around 25 people died of cancer and five of them died this year. That is a big number, if true, and is contrary to the results of scientific studies waved by telecommunication firms. The best response would have been to subject that claim to deeper scrutiny and not allowed to fester.
Are the figures correct? Was each cancer affliction studied as to its cause or possible link to radiofrequency (RF) wave exposure? Are similar cases observable in other cell sites?
Of course, it is not too late to subject the claim of Calvary Hills residents to scientific verification. But the damage has been done. The lesson there is for telecommunication firms and government officials not to treat complaints by residents regarding the existence of cell sites in their village in a cavalier manner.