Mayor warns residents: Organized squatters taking over Baguio lots

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan urged  barangays officials in the city’s 128 barangays to be vigilant on reported influx of squatters from other parts of the region who are organized to build over public lands and even private properties to detriment of government and legitimate land owners.

            

“We were informed that an organized group is now actively recruiting prospective informal settlers from different parts of the region, bring them to the city and build structures over public and private lands and then blame the city’s leadership for its failure to stop squatting,” Domogan said.

He added barangay officials and residents must immediately report to the public order and safety division and city building and architecture office and police new construction of unknown individuals in their places so that immediate action could be taken by the local government.

            

He said the organized group recruiting prospective squatters is reportedly allied with some individuals aspiring for elective positions in the city.

            

Among the areas where the organized syndicate started spreading such misinformation of the alleged failure of the local government to abate squatting were in the Loakan area, Bakakeng, Sto. Tomas proper and in areas that are dominated by the Ibaloi tribe.

            

Domogan solicited the full cooperation of the barangays officials and residents in the reporting of illegal constructions in their respective places because they are the ones who well know the people and their neighbors, thus, the best way to curb squatting is to immediately report to authorities illegal constructions so that the same will be subjected to summary demolition.

            

According to him, in-migration is one of the major causes of the presence of informal settlers in the different barangays, thus, barangays officials and residents must be quick to react and report the presence of new individuals and constructions in their places so that appropriate validation and inspection could be done by the concerned departments of the local government.

            

“We should not wait for the completion of the structures before we report them to concerned authorities,” Domogan said, citing that the vigilance of the neighborhood will be instrumental in curbing illegal constructions around the city.

            

He said the squatting problem in the city is being seriously addressed by the city anti-squatting and illegal structures committee chaired by the city administrator, lawyer Carlos M. Canilao, which regularly conducts hearings on complaints of illegal constructions among others, thus, it is unfair for the opposition to accuse the city’s leadership of tolerating and even protecting informal settlers in the different barangays.

            

The local chief executive admitted there are numerous reports on alleged encroachments on private and public properties in the different barangays but efforts are being collectively done to address the same in order to project the rights of the State over public lands and those that are previously identified for public use and the rights of individuals over their titled lands.

            

He applied to the public to cooperate with the local government in curbing squatting, especially in their neighborhood for the benefit of the present and future generations. – Dexter A. See