MORE NEWS, BAGUIO CITY

JHMC awards 6 titles to Scout Barrio beneficiaries

BAGUIO CITY -- The John Hay Management Corp. awarded six titles to beneficiaries of the Scout Barrio Housing Project of President Gloria Macapagal – Arroyo at the Bell House, Camp John Hay on Nov. 27.

JHMC management handed to Rosita Callao, Remedios Corpuz, Soledad Ela, Rey Pelayo, Edna L. Samson, and Edgar Ulat their original Transfer Certificates of Titles in simple ceremonies with the city mayor’s office representative engineer Bienvenido Baquirin and barangay council members Diane Ortiz and Josefina Belsa as witnesses.

The six Scout Barrio lot awardees complied with lot disposition requirements: fully-paid lot, signed and notarized deed of absolute sale, individual undertaking to respect generated lots, common areas, tight of way and actual lot occupancy and compliance survey made by the Baguio City government, National Housing Authority and Bases Conversion and Development Authority.

Executive order 64 of President Arroyo declared the BCDA Property in Barangay Scout Barrio, Baguio a housing site open for disposition to bonafide occupants who have been living in the area even before the enactment of the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992.

EO 64 implementing rules and regulations provided the lots with a total area of 2,576 sq.m. out of the 80,379 sqm. subject to disposition to actual qualified residents occupying the area.
Out of the 159,738 sq.m. BCDA Scout Barrio oroperty, the other 79,359 sq.m. were retained for community purposes.


Reverse decision on status of ‘new cities’, SC urged
BAGUIO CITY – “New cities” whose status were recently declared by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional are now making motions for reconsideration and convening local leaders to press the high court for a reversal of its ruling.

On Nov. 23, Batac City in Ilocos Norte mayor Jeffrey Nalupta met with all 43 barangay chairmen in his hometown to brief them on developments and implications of the SC order.

Ilocos Norte Gov. Michael Keon said he was disappointed by the ruling. Vice governor Wendell Chua, a Batac native, aired the same sentiment.

Nalupta said ‘barangay officials fear the P1 million barangay development fund earmarked for each of the 43 villages here will perish in the air.

Batac about 55,000 residents receiving P175 million in Internal Revenue Allotment.

Tabuk City in Kalinga like Batac has created plantilla positions for its city courts, schools division and others with officials saying they wree now at a loss on what to do with the employees.
Last Nov. 18, the SC, in a decision penned by Justice Antonio Carpio, declared unconstitutional the conversion into cities of Baybay, Leyte; Bogo, Carcar and Naga, all in Cebu; Catbalogan, Samar; Tandag, Surigao del Sur; Tayabas, Quezon; Lamitan, Basilan; Tabuk, Kalinga; Bayugan, Agusan del Sur; Batac, Ilocos Norte; Mati, Davao Oriental; Guihulngan, Negros Oriental; Cabdbaran, Agusan del Norte; and El Salvador, Misamis Oriental.

The SC cited the cityhood grant to these places violated equal protection clause of the Constitution in the conversion of municipalities into cities.


Expat Igorot karateka reaches out to the sick
By Ramon Dacawi

BAGUIO CITY -- “Karate ne sente nashi.” Karate has no offense. It’s a lesson Julian Chees learned from fourth dan blackbelt Edgar Kapawen Sr. and sixth dan Kunio Sasaki, his teachers in the Japan Karate Association.

Now a fourth dan and teacher himself, Julian, came home last August to visit his ailing mother. He took time to pay his respects to his teachers, as he does whenever he’s back, and to keep alive the lesson he learned and is passing on to his own students.

This time, he brought home P120,000. It was the latest amount he and his students raised in southern Germany where he heads Shoshin (Beginner’s Mind). Shoshin is a traditional karate school that adheres to the shotokan (knife-hand) stance and the tenets of the JKA.

The fund from Shoshin Kinderhelfe, the humanitarian arm of his school, enabled him to reach out to patients in dire need of help the moment he arrived in Bontoc: Arnold Pityer Jr., Ester Gaddi, Josper Fomanes, Randolf Napa-eg, Steve Chaluyen, Wilber Forayang and Nina Florendo.

On his way back to Germany, he met Mark Anthony Viray, a 10-year old kid diagnosed for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, or cancer of the lymph nodes. He treated the kid to pizza and chocolate, bought a take-home for Mark’s sister, and left P12,000 from the fund to start his chemotherapy treatment.

Later, the fund paid for the emergency medicines of four-year old cancer patient John Mark Enqiquez (P1,500), seven-year old dengue fever victim Sarah Puguon (P3,000) and cerebral palsy patient Manuel Tagulino (105), and for the dialysis session of kidney patient Filbert Almoza (P4,000).

John Mark, youngest of three kids being raised alone by their mother, died last Nov. 17, 11 days after his birthday A thousand pesos from Shoshin was added to the amount being raised for the funeral expenses.

Part of the fund ( P6,9521.50) paid for the travel expenses of Veronica Lee, a 27-year old kidney patient who is working out her second organ transplant. A P2,000 support enabled heart patient Crisly Anayasan to go for his check-up at the Philippine Heart Center.

A thousand pesos, to which another Samaritan added an equal amount, enabled Nora (not her real name), to buy milk substitute for her one-year old boy, medicines for her daughter Angel and food for the family. Nora, a mother of three and wife to a sidelined farm tenant, can’t breast-feed her baby as she herself is on maintenance dose for bipolar disorder.

Shoshin will help Binhin Balansi, an eight-year old , recover from injuries he suffered after a bad fall that landed him in the hospital.

Chees said P66,300 of the fund will be for the basic and educational needs of four children who were orphaned when their parents were killed in a bus accident in Nueva Vizcaya last April.

Mayor Pablo Cuyahon of Hungduan, Ifugao where the orphans live with relatives, recently received P33,000 from the total amount for Neil Denver Dao-ay, 10; his brother Jrick Jon, 3; Francis Tamkiw, 11; and Petrin Pocopio, 12.

The remaining P33,300 will be released as soon as the first has been exhausted.

Chees, a former world shotokan champion who also earned the distinction of being the only non-German by birth to be recruited to the German national karate team, was back here recently for his mother’s funeral.

Again, he took time to pay tribute to his teachers. And to visit some of the patients helped by Shoshin at their hospital beds.


4 Baguio developers’ permits OKd; 98 others barred from selling units
By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY -- The Housing Land Use Regulatory Board has given the green light to four subdivision developers in this mountain resort city to proceed with their respective projects after they complied with requirements for issuance of such permit.

The updated list of developers who completed requirements for issuance of license to sell and certificate of registration was released by the HLURB following reports at least 98 developers in the city and nearby Benguet province lacked requirements and were not allowed to sell their subdivision units.

The HLURB identified the latest complying de3velopers as TBF Realty, Inc. and Goshen Land Capital Inc., Megalopolis Properties Inc. and Kumsung Construction and Development Corporation, which has two projects in the city that were issued permits.

Prior to the sale of their subdivision or condominium units, developers must first secure the necessary development permits, license to sell and certificate of registration in from the HLURB in order to legitimize the sale of their properties and give the buyers security for their investments.

Earlier, local officials disclosed 98 developers in the city and Benguet are considered to be illegally developing several properties because they have not secured the required development permits, license to sell and certificates of registration from concerned local government and national agencies that would legalize their development activities.

Baguio City is fast becoming a haven for subdivision developers due to the increasing demand from buyers since the city is said to be a suitable dwelling area due to its cool weather condition.

The report on the big number of unlicensed developers in the city has allegedly caused a down trend in the local housing industry and has forced the erring developers to process their pending documents with concerned government agencies.

TBF Realty Inc. and Goshen Land Capital Inc. is developing the so-called “The CourtYards” condominium at Ambiong, Aurora Hill, Baguio City.

On the other hand, Megalopolis is developing Mega Royale Village at Mount Sto. Tomas, Poblacion, Tuba, Benguet while Kumsung Construction and Development corporation is expanding its current condominium buildings at Moran Street, Gibraltar, Baguio City.

The city government has issued a warning to developers who continue to disregard the processing of their valid permits with the concerned government agencies that they will be issued the necessary notice for such purpose and eventual closure if they continue to refuse to do so.