Mayor answers critics on SM/ Charter change

COMMUNITY BILLBOARD

Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio Domogan on Wednesday said he will not be cowed by any display of force into supporting a cause especially if such is not consistent with the law.

            The mayor was reacting to criticisms hurled against him by supporters and members of the Save 182 Movement over his failure to stop SM’s earth-balling of 41 trees the other week.

            “They call me inutile but then anybody who does not support their line of thinking is inutile to them,” the mayor told the Ugnayang Panlungsod press briefing last week.

            “We will not be pressured by mere shouting and noise into doing something that is not within the ambit of our powers,” the mayor said.

            “I hope those (supporting the preservation of the trees at SM) can understand that it’s not that we don’t like to support (their cause) but we know the limit of our power,” he said.

           

The mayor expressed hope that SM and the opposition could still arrive at a compromise after the dialogue brokered by the Dept. of Interior and Local Government last week where the protagonists presented their positions and sentiments.

            Members of the Save 182 Movement which is leading the protest against the removal of trees at SM, however, decried the outcome of the dialogue which they claimed did not yield any agreement or compromise to guarantee the preservation of the trees.

            The protesters earlier scored a victory after the Regional Trial Court extended the term of the Temporary Environmental Protection Order (TEPO) earlier issued to stop SM from touching the trees until the resolution of the case which the group filed against SM.

            But Domogan said that as per the court order, SM will be allowed to earth ball 28 trees in addition to the 41 earlier moved.

            At the city council, the body still has to act on the council committee on health, sanitation and environment’s recommendations on the SM issue as committee chair Councilor ErdolfoBalajadia attended by DILG dialogue in Manila.

            The committee recommendation said  the city council has no authority to stop SM’s plan to earthball 182 trees for its expansion project and instead suggested the creation of a multi-sectoral committee to monitor the implementation of the SM expansion project and ensure that it is complying with the company’s development commitments

            The committee also asked SM Baguio to consider redesigning its expansion project to reduce the number of trees to be affected by the project.

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            The Baguio City government will submit its position paper on House Bill No. 3759 or An Act Revising the Charter of the City of Baguio.

            Mayor Domogan said the position paper will be considered by the Senate committee on local government chaired by Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. before the bill can be submitted for plenary debates and amendments in the Senate.

            The mayor said the technical working group of the Senate committee met city officials last week and requested that the position paper be submitted before the end of the week.

            City departments were expected to submit their comments and concerns relative to the proposed provisions last Thursday for consolidation by the city legal office.

            “Senator Marcos will look into our position to see if the bill needs further study.  Otherwise, he can report it for plenary discussion,” the mayor said.

            The mayor said Marcos expressed confidence that the passage of the bill will not be overtaken by the upcoming elections if the grey areas can be resolved on time.

The committee has zeroed in on resolving the conflict between the implementation of the Free Patent Law and the city’s Townsite Sales Application mode of titling.

            The committee is also considering the mayor’s request for the deletion of the provision that seeks to treat legitimate ancestral lands as inalienable or with the same status as private lots.

            The mayor said the city’s position will delve on the salient amendments particularly on the implementation of the direct disposal and award of alienable public lands and the revisions in the functions of city departments.

            “The passage of the said bill is very much needed as it shall help resolve serious problems of the city such as finally settle the boundary dispute between the city and the municipality of Tuba; address the problems and speed up the disposal and awarding of alienable and disposable public lands to qualified beneficiaries; improve the human resource of the city; and improve the revenue of the city,” the mayor said. The city council recently passed a resolution endorsing the passage of the bill.

            The city’s charter has remained unchanged since it was written by Justice George Malcolm in 1909.  The Charter even pre-dates the 1935 Constitution and has not yet been revised since its enactment so that almost all of its provisions have become obsolete and irrelevant.

Domogan who authored the original bill during his term in Congress described his bill as a “mixed marriage of provision of Republic Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 and the provisions of the 1909 City Charter, as amended by the Revised Administrative Code of 1917 and of Presidential Proclamations.”