Baguio offers to buy tree park to make it mini-forest

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – The city government has offered to purchase the tree park within the Baguio Convention Center reservation from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to maintain it as a mini-forest.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan formalized the offer first manifested last April by city legal officer Melchor Carlos Rabanes during the hearing of the civil case between the city and the GSIS over the property.

       In a letter to GSIS president and general manager Robert Vergara dated July 12, the mayor tendered an amount he described as a “fair compensation” for the area considering that the “intended purchase of the lot serves no purpose but to preserve the lot as is, it being the only forested part of the urbanized area to enhance the environment.”

“We beg the indulgence of GSIS on this matter,” he said.

“We understand that GSIS has plans to convert this forested lot into something that would augment the              GSIS’ retirement plans and its actuarial solvency.  But the City Government is well-aware of the clamor of Baguio residents to preserve this lot as forested.  We thus have no choice but to hearken to the people’s will,” the mayor said.

He assured that the property would remain as “a forested area and retain its zoning classification as park and garden to complement the Baguio Convention Center which we earlier acquired from GSIS.”

          In 2012, the area was eyed for development into a condotel and commercial complex by the GSIS and the SM Development Corporation but strong opposition from the public and the city officials prevented the venture from materializing.

The GSIS even filed an administrative case against  past and present city officials over the botched project before the Office of the Ombudsman “for usurpation of legislative powers and violation of Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices” for passing and implementing Ordinance No. 51 series of 2001 or the Revised Comprehensive Zoning Regulations of the city which was the basis of the city in disapproving the GSIS’ application for a building permit for its condotel project dubbed Baguio Air Residences.

         They claimed the disapproval of the project denied the GSIS the chance to augment its actuarial funds and that Ordinance No. 51-2001 which declared the area as a park and garden cannot supplant Presidential Decree 396. 

The parties later negotiated and agreed to pursue a land swap deal so the city can acquire the tree park.

The city then offered its titled property along Gibraltar Road but the deal did not push through after the lot was included in those issued Certificates of Ancestral Land Titles (CALTs) by the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP).

This prompted the city to consider purchasing the tree park instead.

The tree park is one of the few remaining pinestands in the city.  The status of its ownership has been questioned because of the overlapping coverage of the Original Certificate of Title No. 1.

GSIS however maintained that the lot is covered by Presidential Decree 396 issued by former President Ferdinand Marcos which intended the subject area under the ownership of GSIS to augment its retirement funds and actuarial solvency. – Aileen P. Refuerzo