Fencing Busol

EDITORIAL

It would be interesting now to see how the Baguio City government would act after the Supreme Court recently ruled illegal occupants have no business staying within the Busol Watershed.

Would the “squatter buildings” now be demolished considering there is this stupid law which says squatters have to be relocated before they can be touched? 

Councilor Erdolfo Balajadia, chair of the Baguio Regreening Movement said fencing of Busol watershed perimeter can now start and will serve as warning to squatters that it is off limits to them and that tenure of “informal settlers” occupying lots within the reservation will never become absolute.

       

Balajadia made the announcement saying resumption of the fencing project should commence following Baguio Water District’s pledge to put up P3-4 million for the long overdue project.

“The fencing of Busol watershed should warn squatters that this watershed has to be preserved for the benefit of the constituents.  From now on, they should start thinking that they can never own the area,” Balajadia said.

 Balajadia said with the initial fund from the BWD, more than 112 hectares of the watershed can be fenced.He said they plan to begin construction in areas not covered by any dispute and eventually move to areas occupied by informal settlers.

He however said they will maintain existing entrance and exit points of the reservation for humanitarian consideration.

The project will be a collaboration of the BRM, the city government, the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources and other government agencies.

The city government under Mayor Mauricio Domogan is also expected to work out funds for the project as earlier allocations reverted to the coffers after the project was shelved.

Balajadia broached the project in 2002 as a joint undertaking with the city government, the city engineering district and the Busol Forest Reservation Task Force but it was stopped after theNational Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) issued a Temporary Restraining Order and later an injunction in the case filed by occupants who petitioned against the project as it will impede their access to and from their residences, farmlands and water sources within the reservation.

The NCIP order was later affirmed by the Court of Appeals which upheld the NCIP’s jurisdiction and authority to issue said orders.

However last February, the Supreme Court set aside and reversed CA ruling enabling the BRM to revive the fencing project.