City successfully fences portion of Busol

CITY foresters and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) successfully fenced a portion of the Busol watershed last Thursday to protect it from informal settlers.

City Environment and Parks Management Office Forestry (Cepmo) and Watershed Management Division chief Walter Aguirre said they secured a portion of the watershed intended as a bamboo tree nursery of the Baguio Regreening Movement.

About 30 meters of the watershed boundary was secured with a barbed wire fencing last Thursday morning, the special CEPMO division head said.

Officials of Cepmo and the DENR sought help from the Baguio City Police Office last July 5 to secure the area and carry out the fencing order with the consent of Mayor Mauricio Domogan.

This was despite the contention from the Ampaguey family living near the reservation claiming the area fenced is part of their property.

Members of the family showed a copy of the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples stopping the Baguio Regreening Movement with their planned nursery in the area.

However, authorities said they are not covered by the TRO because they are not BRM and are only carrying out orders to secure the area from squatters.

The Ampaguey family, meanwhile, asserted their right to their ancestral land by seeking a directive from the NCIP.

Aguirre said if the claimants really want that portion of the reservation, they should file for a claim before the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

But he expressed doubts the NCIP will grant a title because the Busol watershed has already been established as a forest reservation.

Meantime, the NCIP is yet to give orders to appropriate offices informing the City Government on whether the Ampaguey family has right to the portion of the land inside the Busol watershed which the BRM intends to build its bamboo tree nursery.