Slaughter compound execs want projects, lands, coop

By Jordan G. Habbiling

BAGUIO CITY – Barangay Sto. Niño officials proposed to the city council to redevelop the slaughter compound along Magsaysay Avenue at Balajadia Street, District 7. 

Barangay chief Camilo Tacbas said they want a housing cooperative for residents among other projects. proposed by the barangay include upgrading the terminal road network, systems for water distribution, storm drainage, electrical distribution, sewer and resettlement area for informal settlers.

In his letter to the city council, Tacbas said the aim is to decongest the area and make it more livable through the projects.

Attached with the letter was a copy of a 130-page feasibility study made by Benguet Builders, a construction company, for the proposed projects.  

Tacbas said the barangay would not oppose plans the city government has for the land, but urged the residents will be allotted land in said area.

“We are not insisting this feasibility study. But our primary concern is the welfare of our residents, some of whom have been there since 1968,” Tacbas said.

              The punong barangay said they need a development permit for their cooperative’s housing development project.

The city council and the city legal office, however, clarified during the regular session, that the city government has no power to designate the area for whatever purpose as it is covered by a presidential proclamation (Proclamation No. 312) which reserves the area as a sanitary camp and a livestock yard.

Moreover, the same proclamation assigns the city government as  administrator and not as owner of the land.

“The city government is an administrator of the property; hence it cannot do acts of ownership over that property as the role of the city is merely a caretaker,” lawyer Isagani Liporada of the city legal office said.

Liporada said a new national law is needed to repeal the assigned function of the said portion of land under Proclamation No. 312 and redesignate it for other purposes.

The city council advised Tacbas to seek the help of Rep. Marquez Go for the passage of a bill that will address the matter.

The city council passed a city resolution in 2019 requesting President Rodrigo Duterte to delineate the said parcel of land under Proclamation No. 312 to transfer the ownership of the same to the city government of Baguio.

Councilor Philian Weygan-Allan said the city government may allot a portion of the said land for the proposed housing project of the barangay if and when the council’s request to the Malacañang is granted.

Architect Donna Tabangin, City Planning and Development coordinator, supported councilor Isabelo Cosalan’s request for formulation of a cohesive master plan that will map out all developments in said area.

Tabangin and Cosalan said a master plan was needed in development of the area.

Meanwhile, councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda advised Tacbas not to recruit yet members of the housing cooperative as there are still no concrete plans for projects in the area.