BAGUIO CITY – The city government and Bases
Development Authority traded charges last week over issues of Camp John Hay
like the segregation of lots within the former American military camp.
This, as Camp John Hay Development Corp.,
lessee of the former American military camp, joined the fray by accusing the
BCDA of not being fair in its dealings even as officials of the latter and John
Hay Management Corp.(which is under the BCDA) denied accusations while pointing
the finger at the city government and CJHDevCo.
On the issue of land titling over the area, Mayor
Mauricio Domogan said the city’s position on the segregation of the entire land
area covered by the 13 barangays from the Camp John Hay reservation as provided
in condition no. 14 of Resolution Numbered 362, series of 1994 is
non-negotiable.
“There is no way that we will agree to what
the BCDA is saying that only occupied areas of said barangays will be
segregated,” the mayor said in a press briefing.
The mayor said the condition is very clear
that even non-lawyers would clearly understand its meaning and intent to
segregate the entire land area of the 13 barangays and not just the occupied
portions.
JHMC board chairman Silvestre Afable said in
press conference Wednesday they will not segregate the entire areas of the
barangays and will push for the selective segregation of lots so that the
remaining unoccupied areas can be protected from incursion by informal
settlers. He said the local government units’ capability to protect
their forest reservations is suspect due to politics.
But Domogan said segregating the unoccupied
areas in the subject barangays will present no problem as they can still be
protected by retaining their status as forest reserve even if they are
segregated from the John Hay reservation.
“Even if these areas are segregated, they
should remain as forest reservation that cannot be awarded to
individuals. That is precisely our stand,” the mayor said.
On the on-going tussle between the BCDA-JHMC
and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) relative to the
issuance of Certificates of Ancestral Land Titles over lots in Happy Hallow and
Camp 7, the mayor said the city’s stand remains that only legitimate ancestral
land claims will be supported.
“The city government respects the claims of
ancestral land applicants in the city as long as these are legitimate Igorot
claims qualified for disposition as ancestral land under existing laws but we
are against bogus land claims that are not qualified under the provisions of
the law,” the mayor said.
The mayor expressed hopes that the BCDA and
the JHMC will comply with the conditions attached to the development of Camp
John Hay.
“If all of us will really be open to address
these concerns, then it would not have been difficult to resolve the problems
but if one will insist on his own views then understanding and solution will be
far-fetched,” he said. –
Afable and JHMC president Dr. Jamie Agbayani
were of the position that some land titles issued by government agencies like
the NCIP and Departments of Agrarian Reform and Environment and Natural
Resources over Camp John Hay should be studied and the anomalous ones should be
revoked.
This, as the CJHDevCo) condemned the alleged
harassment being done by the BCDA on the city government following the latter’s
decision to file the necessary legal action to compel the national government
to comply with the 19 conditions imposed for the development of the former
American military base pursuant to Resolution No. 362, series of 1994.
CJHDevCo president and chairman Roberto and
chief executive officer Alfredo “Boysie” Yniguez, in a press conference
Thursday disputed claims of the BCDA saying they have been fair in their
dealings with the government agency.
“We urge BCDA to stop its power play with the
city government” lawyer Barry Ubarra, CJHDevCo legal counsel, stated during
Thursday’s press conference, citing that the developer has already become aware
of Resolution No. 152, series of 2013 and as a major taxpayer of the city and
concerned citizens to uphold the plight of the people.
Resolution No. 152 passed by the city council
wants BCDA to fastrack the segregation of the 13 barangays within the
686-hectare Camp John Hay reservation and in the meantime not to disturb the
tenure of the present government and other public structures in the areas to be
segregated.
The BCDA has stopped the issuance of permits
for the construction of the Hillside Annex of the Baguio City National High
School (BCNHS) and the city government fears that the non-issuance of permits
may extend to all public structures, including barangay halls, covered courts,
and other educational institutions and other government structures that would
greatly affect the delivery of basic services to the thousands of affected
residents.
“We condemn this reckless kind of tactic
where the BCDA is twisting the arm of the government if only to continuously
harass CJHDevCo,” Ubarra said, citing that BCDA has been consistently forcing
the developer to cough up a one-time payment for its lease of the 246-hectare
John Hay Special Economic Zone and repeated rejecting an offer of over a
billion pesos in payments to the government and refusing to sit down with them
in arbitration as mandated by the government contract and as ordered by the
court.
Ubarra disclosed BCDA has topped issuance of
all permits for construction and development inside the declared special
economic zone but development has proceeded in the leased area through building
permits issued by the city government.
“We urge BCDA officials to respect the rule
of law instead of using their authority to make life difficult not only for the
developer but also for the city government and the people of Baguio,” Ubarra
stated, adding that instead of reaching out to possible partners of the
government in developing the city, the BCDA seems to be adamant in taking out
existing partners of the city.
Ubarra called on city officials and residents
to be vigilant a this time since “we cannot allow the city of Baguio to suffer
because of the whims of certain personalities in power who wantonly twist the
rule of the law to suit their own personal interests.”
He accused the BCDA of allegedly using
taxpayers money in harassing the developer and the city government while
CJHDevCo is spending its hard earned resources to fight the alleged
malpractices of the State-owned corporation thereby compromising the welfare of
the people of the city. – By Dexter See, Eileen P. Refuerzo and Alfred
Dizon
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