Baguio gov’t, BCDA, lessee trade charges over John Hay

BAGUIO CITY – The city government and Bases Development Authority traded charges last week over issues of Camp John Hay like the segregation of lots within the former American military camp.

This, as Camp John Hay Development Corp., lessee of the former American military camp, joined the fray by accusing the BCDA of not being fair in its dealings even as officials of the latter and John Hay Management Corp.(which is under the BCDA) denied accusations while pointing the finger at the city government and CJHDevCo.     

On the issue of land titling over the area, Mayor Mauricio Domogan said the city’s position on the segregation of the entire land area covered by the 13 barangays from the Camp John Hay reservation as provided in condition no. 14 of Resolution Numbered 362, series of 1994 is non-negotiable.

           

“There is no way that we will agree to what the BCDA is saying that only occupied areas of said barangays will be segregated,” the mayor said in a press briefing.

            

The mayor said the condition is very clear that even non-lawyers would clearly understand its meaning and intent to segregate the entire land area of the 13 barangays and not just the occupied portions.

            

JHMC board chairman Silvestre Afable said in press conference Wednesday they will not segregate the entire areas of the barangays and will push for the selective segregation of lots so that the remaining unoccupied areas can be protected from incursion by informal settlers.  He said the local government units’ capability to protect their forest reservations is suspect due to politics.

            

But Domogan said segregating the unoccupied areas in the subject barangays will present no problem as they can still be protected by retaining their status as forest reserve even if they are segregated from the John Hay reservation.

“Even if these areas are segregated, they should remain as forest reservation that cannot be awarded to individuals.  That is precisely our stand,” the mayor said.

On the on-going tussle between the BCDA-JHMC and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) relative to the issuance of Certificates of Ancestral Land Titles over lots in Happy Hallow and Camp 7, the mayor said the city’s stand remains that only legitimate ancestral land claims will be supported.

“The city government respects the claims of ancestral land applicants in the city as long as these are legitimate Igorot claims qualified for disposition as ancestral land under existing laws but we are against bogus land claims that are not qualified under the provisions of the law,” the mayor said.

The mayor expressed hopes that the BCDA and the JHMC will comply with the conditions attached to the development of Camp John Hay.

“If all of us will really be open to address these concerns, then it would not have been difficult to resolve the problems but if one will insist on his own views then understanding and solution will be far-fetched,” he said. –

Afable and JHMC president Dr. Jamie Agbayani were of the position that some land titles issued by government agencies like the NCIP and Departments of Agrarian Reform and Environment and Natural Resources over Camp John Hay should be studied and the anomalous ones should be revoked.

This, as the CJHDevCo) condemned the alleged harassment being done by the BCDA on the city government following the latter’s decision to file the necessary legal action to compel the national government to comply with the 19 conditions imposed for the development of the former American military base pursuant to Resolution No. 362, series of 1994.

CJHDevCo president and chairman Roberto and chief executive officer Alfredo “Boysie” Yniguez, in a press conference Thursday disputed claims of the BCDA saying they have been fair in their dealings with the government agency.  

           

“We urge BCDA to stop its power play with the city government” lawyer Barry Ubarra, CJHDevCo legal counsel, stated during Thursday’s press conference, citing that the developer has already become aware of Resolution No. 152, series of 2013 and as a major taxpayer of the city and concerned citizens to uphold the plight of the people.

           

Resolution No. 152 passed by the city council wants BCDA to fastrack the segregation of the 13 barangays within the 686-hectare Camp John Hay reservation and in the meantime not to disturb the tenure of the present government and other public structures in the areas to be segregated.

            

The BCDA has stopped the issuance of permits for the construction of the Hillside Annex of the Baguio City National High School (BCNHS) and the city government fears that the non-issuance of permits may extend to all public structures, including barangay halls, covered courts, and other educational institutions and other government structures that would greatly affect the delivery of basic services to the thousands of affected residents.

            

“We condemn this reckless kind of tactic where the BCDA is twisting the arm of the government if only to continuously harass CJHDevCo,” Ubarra said, citing that BCDA has been consistently forcing the developer to cough up a one-time payment for its lease of the 246-hectare John Hay Special Economic Zone and repeated rejecting an offer of over a billion pesos in payments to the government and refusing to sit down with them in arbitration as mandated by the government contract and as ordered by the court.

            

Ubarra disclosed BCDA has topped issuance of all permits for construction and development inside the declared special economic zone but development has proceeded in the leased area through building permits issued by the city government.

            

“We urge BCDA officials to respect the rule of law instead of using their authority to make life difficult not only for the developer but also for the city government and the people of Baguio,” Ubarra stated, adding that instead of reaching out to possible partners of the government in developing the city, the BCDA seems to be adamant in taking out existing partners of the city.

            

Ubarra called on city officials and residents to be vigilant a this time since “we cannot allow the city of Baguio to suffer because of the whims of certain personalities in power who wantonly twist the rule of the law to suit their own personal interests.”

            

He accused the BCDA of allegedly using taxpayers money in harassing the developer and the city government while CJHDevCo is spending its hard earned resources to fight the alleged malpractices of the State-owned corporation thereby compromising the welfare of the people of the city. – By Dexter See, Eileen P. Refuerzo and Alfred Dizon