BAGUIO City Mayor Mauricio Domogan has once again asked the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS)to allow the city to purchase vacant lots for the mountain resort to utilize.
Domogan said a letter has been sent to GSIS to intimate the intent to buy the lot beside the Baguio Convention Center (BCC).
The mayor said negotiations has been ongoing since last year when the GSIS informed the city the area was up for sale for P433 million. The city, in return, asked it be reduced to P350 million.
However, instead of lowering the price, the GSIS increased the lot price to P680 million, which the city cannot purchase.
Today, Domogan said he has once again opened the negotiations with the government agency.
“I asked that we should be allowed to purchase the lot in the same amount initially given,” Domogan said following the area can be utilized by the city but maintained as a tree park.
In a separate move, Councilor Maylen Yaranon has asked President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to help the city acquire the idle GSIS property at the Philippine National Railways (PNR) and use it as a bus terminal in a bid to declog the present state of Governor Pack road.
The lady councilor said the GSIS is selling the property at the PNR compound but the city cannot afford it.
Domogan has backed the move of Yaranon.
The local government was able to acquire the BCC from the GSIS through the city’s accumulated share from the lease of the 247-hectare John Hay Special Economic Zone (JHSEZ) held by the State-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) in the amount of P250 million only in 2012.