Hotels, restos group hits Baguio execs on Athletic Bowl deal

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY -- A group of hotel and restaurant owners here assailed city officials over their “undue haste” to enter into deal with a Korean to develop the Athletic Bowl here within the Burnham Park.

The group said they support instead the Burnham Park master plan made by the University of the Cordilleras.

The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio (HRAB) in statement this week said it “supports the move to rehabilitate and redevelop the Athletic Bowl, a portion of the Burnham Park Reservation in conformity with the master development plan being prepared by the certified architects, engineers, landscape engineers and urban planners from the University of the Cordilleras.”

The HRAB added it “supports the comprehensive master development plan in full agreement with its immediate environment and as a showcase of the City of Baguio to its citizenry and visitors, in the form of better planning, design, management, maintenance and financing its facilities, open spaces and its depleted natural resources.”

However, while it supports efforts by the city in managing the park including the Baguio athletic bowl, it said the undue haste to which the city entered into a memorandum of agreement with a Korean group represented by a certain An Ho Yul was sad.

The HRAB in a note posted in a popular internet based social networking group said it “deplores that the memorandum of agreement was entered into and approved precipitately without prior consultation and concurrence of the Burnham Park Management Authority or any other governing body / bodies for such purpose, and or whether or not it is in consonance with the master development plan of Burnham Park.”

In further said city officials “ignored the very basic detail of governance in awarding of government properties or assets for lease operations.”

It added there should be consultation made including with involved parties like the now defunct Burnham Park Management Authority, no transparent public bidding to interested parties which should be capable to undertake such a project.

The group said the City Council lacked the wisdom in approving Resolution 515 which gave the mayor the authority to enter into a MOA and its subsequent rescission due to public outcry.
“Public office is a public trust, a worthy maxim for the members of the august body to carry out what is expected of the office they hold, to render service honestly and fairly without fear or favor,” the group said.

Meanwhile, former Baguio mayor Bernardo Vergara said he supports the UC Burnham masterplan.

Vergara was in 1981 the Philippine Tourism Authority general manager, when improvements were made on the park.

He was also instrumental in having the park management turned over the city in 1995.

“We need a masterplan for the park, and we will work on its implementation if we will be lucky in May,” said the former three time congressman, who was part responsible in helping the city get back on its feet after the 1990 earthquake.

The UC masterplan was presented to city officials and the public on Feb. 4, during such time the mayor abolished the BPMA and created the Parks and Recreation Bureau.