Transferring John Hay to Baguio stewardship

EDITORIAL

Some Baguio officials are pressing that Camp John Hay, covering hundreds of hectares be transferred under the city government.   

But then, according to the Bases Conversion Development Authority, it is not easy as that since, transfer of land owned and titled under the national government’s name to the city is beyond the authority of the state-owned BCDA.

BCDA president and CEO Arnel Paciano Casanova told city officials transferring the former US military rest and recreation area to the city government is vested on the President of the Republic.

Camp John Hay (along with other former US military bases in the country vacated in 1991) were placed under the stewardship of the BCDA, a government corporation. Now, John Hay is directly being managed by BCDA subsidiary, the John Hay Management Corp.

Casanova, a lawyer said the BCDA, being a mere administrator representing the government, cannot just cede a  land owned by the national government to any entity whether private or public, as such act is within the ambit of the President  and thus,   must go through the process prescribed under the law.

This came as city officials discussed segregation of the barangays from the reservation, and placing them under the jurisdiction of the city.With such a situation, Casanova said what it does is to hasten titling of lands of legitimate claimants, which they have started at Barangay Scout Barrio.

Casanova revealed that 157 titles have been issued to legitimate land claimants, corresponding to 96 percent, with only six remaining land titles to be processed.  “Out of the 163 legitimate land claimants in Scout Barrio barangay, only six have not yet received their land titles, but it is on the way. As soon as full payment is done, they will get their titles.”

He said that like Scout Barrio, the legitimate land claims in the 13 other barangays within the John Hay reservation is on-going. “We are completing the survey. After that, we go to the Registry of Deeds.”

BCDA has allocated P2 million for the conduct of the survey.  Casanova said the government commits to secure the 

residents, who have asked the BCDA for their land titles. “Legitimate land claimants can sleep well because we are in the process of segregating the lots. The process done for Scout Barrio is the same procedure being done as our commitment to the people of Baguio.”

A process of validation is also being done to verify whether those appearing as claimants are legitimate, to prevent a scenario whereby those who are not entitled to get lands are the ones who  would  get the  titles.

“We do not want the IPRA (Indigenous Peoples Rights Act) to become an avenue for further deprivation of the rights of the IPs to the land,” he said.

In the process of titling the individual lots, Casanova said that they are also trying their best to protect the remaining watershed of the city. “John Hay is a forest area. While we uphold the rights of the claimants over the land, we do not want intrusion that will lead to the destruction of the ecological balance in the reservation.”  Leaving the open areas as is, he said, is important to protect the reservation.