Baguio’s century-old charter revised

By ACE ALEGRE
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — Baguio City Representative Bernardo Vergara announced that House Bill 3759, an act seeking to revise Baguio City’s charter was recently passed on final reading in the lower house and is hopeful it would be passed in the upper house.

Vergara, who refilled House Bill 3759 taking cue from an earlier proposal of former Congressman now Mayor Mauricio Domogan, said the revision will be exceptionally fast as the Senate plenary has already endorsed the measure on January 17 to the Committee on Local Governments headed by Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. 

“The measure’s legislative journey is considered record-setting by parliamentary standards because in less than six moths, it was passed in the House (on December 13, 2010) through a unanimous vote on third and final reading,” he said.

Vergara said, Baguio has a national sympathy as the nation’s Summer Capital and premier tourist destination, as the changes in its charter will pave the way for land use development in the city. 

“The disposal of public lands is made more efficient and less cumbersome; as townsite land disposition is delegated from the national to the local government, thus ensuring ample land spaces for public use,” he added.

Under the new charter, Vergara said, privately occupied homelots within public disposable lands will now be immediately awarded by a local board headed by the city mayor to present occupants without their having to undergo the prohibitive process of auctions and bidding, thus recognizing rights arising from long-term occupancy.

The fast urbanization and migration patterns in Baguio for the past 100 years since 1909 has swelled from 25,000 residents to a high of 300,000, posing long-standing woes on housing, land use and resources.

The new charter will also settle, Vergara said, age-old territorial boundary dispute that has often strained the city’s relationship with Tuba town in Benguet, paving the way for closer cooperative endeavors with its neighboring town, the Baguio solon further explained.

National reservations lands which have been re-classified by national statutes and presidential declarations will now be disposed for housing purposes in closer coordination with the local government, thus providing homelot access to needy local constituents,  the new charter hopes.

With Sen. Marcos Jr. around, “baka belated New Year’s gift sa Baguio ng Senado ito,” beamed Vergara who hopes Senate’s favorable action is out before Congress adjourns in May. # nordis.net