Baguio gov’t stops Maharlika building construction works

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CIY – The city government ordered the management of the Maharlika Livelihood Center to cease and desist from pursuing the construction activities it has started within the said structure because of the absence of the necessary permits from the concerned offices, among other safety issues.

Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong said the city government also ordered the management to remove all the construction materials it stockpiled in the said structure in compliance with the stoppage order to prevent any unnecessary incident that would pose a serious threat to the safety of the tenants and the public.

He added the new management team appointed by Agriculture Secretary William Dar to take over the continuous operation of the Maharlika Livelihood Center already paid a courtesy call to him and plans and programs on how to improve the facility were discussed.

The new Maharlika management team is expected to take over the operation of the government-owned structure at the start of next year to replace the present management team whose contracts have not been renewed by the new leadership of the agriculture department in the face of controversies that had been levelled against them by tenants.

Earlier, the management of the Maharlika Livelihood Center attempted to construct a mezzanine within the structure without the required permits from the city government that prompted the affected tenants to file a complaint with concerned offices of the city government leading to the  issuance of the necessary cease and desist order against the implementation of the project because safety issues uncovered by the technical personnel that conducted an inspection on the facility.

Secretary Dar also informed him it will only be in 2025 that the administration and management of the Maharlika Livelihood Center will be turned over to the city government considering the 50-year contract that was entered into by the city government and the developer of the facility sometime in April 1975 as per available records.

At present, the Maharlika Livelihood Center is under the direct supervision of the agriculture department’s Human Settlements Development Corporation (HSDC), one of the government’s subsidiary corporation.

The Maharlika Livelihood Center was constructed by the private developers commissioned by the national government over a parcel of city-owned land right to the heart of the city through a  50-year lease for the put up of the facility with the condition that the same will be turned over to the city upon the lapse of the duration of the contract and that the same will be owned by the city.