BAGUIO CITY– Members of the Baguio City Council on Wednesday, Thursday, 18 January 2024 expressed their firm stand regarding the House Bill of Baguio Congressman Mark Go that the people should be consulted and informed properly because it will affect their social and economic lives.
Baguio City Councilor Jose Mencio Molintas said that House Bill 9428 seeking the declaration that segregated parcels of land under the Camp John Hay reservation as alienable and disposable, allowing residents within the area to own titles of the occupied portions, should be understood by the people of Baguio. It is more disadvantageous to the people of Baguio as there are so many provisions in the said bill, that they are not giving voice to the real interests of the people. He stressed that the segregation of the 13 barangays from the area of jurisdiction of Camp John Hay managed by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority should benefit the people living in them and not the big businesses and rich people inside the camp.
The 13 barangays include Camp 7, Country Club Village, Greenwater, Happy Hallow, Hillside, Loakan-Apugan, Loakan-Liwanag, Loakan Proper, Lower Dagsian, Lucnab, Military Cut-Off, Sta. Escolastica Village, Scout Barrio and Upper Dagsian. Many of the people living in the said barangays are indigenous peoples and the majority of them are indigenous peoples called Ibaloys, the first settlers of Baguio City.
The 13 barangays lie inside the 530 acres of the places once called by the Ibalois as “Kafagway” or pasteur land. In 2001, the 14th barangay, Scout Barrion was segregated as a socialized housing area.
Molintas said that for decades, the people suffered enough from the many restrictions being imposed in the former US military base as they were being barred from introducing improvements to their houses and their livelihoods. He said that to prioritize the welfare of the people living in the areas within the camp, the city councils passed a resolution in 1994 setting 19 conditionalities in the formulation of BCDA, the master development plan for Club John Hay or Camp John Hay. The 19 conditionalities were supposed to be complied with by the BCDA in ensuring that the rights of the people occupying the lots inside are to be respected and the function of the local government of Baguio as host over its constituents and area of jurisdiction. Yet the said conditionalities are yet to be fully complied with as the people aired many grievances as they continuously complained that they are not being respected.
Councilor Peter Fianza said that a bill addressing the problem is good. But he said that they are surprised when Go passes the house bill without properly consulting them and the people. He said HB 9428 could be “contentious as it appears to allow BCDA to enrich itself from properties to which it may not rightfully be entitled.” He stressed the importance and necessity of a public consultation.
Baguio City Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan meanwhile expressed disappointment and condemnation of what happened to the public consultation which was held on 16 January 2024 at the Baguio Cultural and Convention Center on the HB of Go. In the said consultation, a group of people allegedly from the camp of the congressman attended the activity and created a scene. Accordingly, some of them uttered unsavory and unsolicited words and sentences seemingly focused on derailing the public consultation. With the group were people from the crowd who served as a “cheering squad”, who cheered and created noise every time the unwanted guests talked.
Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong also condemned the incident. Molintas clarified that they are not targeting Go but the very people who went to the consultation and did the wrong things.