BAGUIO CITY — It seems that the road access to the planned new facility of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) of the city remains a distant goal as local officials grapple with significant historical and logistical hurdles.

During the consultation at the City Council with a representative from the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO), the project is anchored to a comprehensive master development plan that requires extensive preparation. It was realized in the said consultation that bureaucratic processes and required community consultations mean that even getting the project to the bidding stage will not happen overnight, effectively pushing any immediate construction timeline further into the future.

A primary complication stalling the project is the preservation of local heritage structures and historical remains located within the city cemetery. CEPMO head Rhenan Diwas explained that because the proposed access involves structures that are at least fifty years old, they are automatically considered heritage sites under national laws. He said such status mandates that the local government secure formal consent from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) as well as the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).

While the city has completed the initial identification and compilation of tombs belonging to city builders and historical figures, navigating these national heritage clearances adds a thick layer of regulatory delay.

The scope of the project itself has expanded beyond a simple road construction, compounding the timeline. According to Diwas, the road access is intrinsically tied to a master development plan that must address the entire cemetery property rather than just an isolated corridor. The city had initially hoped to alleviate pressure on the current site by establishing a new cemetery elsewhere, but attempts to find alternative land have been completely unsuccessful. The inability to acquire fresh property means the city must focus on redeveloping the current, heavily congested site, making any internal modifications highly sensitive and complex.

Efforts to engage in land banking for a new burial ground have yielded no results despite ongoing property searches. Local authorities have scouted locations in areas like Barangay Loakan, but such attempts have consistently faced stiff opposition from local residents who object to having a cemetery established near their homes. He said that because no space has been identified to absorb the city's burial needs, the local government is forced to work exclusively within the saturated confines of the existing cemetery, severely limiting their operational flexibility and stalling the road project.

Also, Baguio councilor Peter Fianza recalled that the initial concept focused on building a road along the outer perimeter of the cemetery to serve as a sanitary buffer between local residents, referred to as the day dreamers, and the burial grounds. The perimeter road was intended to hit multiple targets by satisfying national sanitation code requirements, providing access for residents and the jail facility, and blocking the cemetery from the immediate view of nearby homes.

The planned access road will affect some 300 tombs.

Diwas said that the City Planning Office (CPDO) was the one who presented the road plan, deviating entirely from that original concept. Instead of tracing the perimeter to create a buffer, the new proposal depicts a road that cuts directly through the cemetery grounds.

Diwas pointed out that it represents a completely fresh and unexpected approach that abandons the initial perimeter exploration. The drastic shift in layout means that previous discussions regarding a standard five-meter or twenty-five-meter perimeter buffer zone are no longer applicable to the current planning trajectory.

Compounding the design change are severe geographical challenges that make the perimeter route technically unfeasible. Findings from the City Engineering Office (CEO) revealed that the topography of the terrain directly between the residential area and the cemetery is extremely steep. The rugged terrain prevents engineers from simply utilizing the perimeter zone for a standard road, forcing planners back to the drawing board and highlighting why the current proposal threatens to disrupt the existing graves within the cemetery itself.

Acknowledging that the issue needs time to be resolved, the city council has called for a comprehensive reset of the planning process. Baguio City Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan directed the technical teams and relevant offices to sit down, harmonize their plans, and conduct mandatory consultations with all affected residents and stakeholders within a twenty-day window. He emphasized that resolving these spatial and community disputes is the absolute first step, as the city cannot even begin to discuss or allocate funding for the road until a consensus is reached on a viable, legally cleared route.