John Hay segregation survey begins October

JOHN Hay Management Corporation (JHMC) officials signed a contract Thursday with Engr. Eric Baldo, the private surveyor who won bidding initiated by the estate manager, to survey of some 14 barangays inside Camp John Hay.

JHMC president Dr. Jamie Eloise Agbayani, in a meeting attended by representatives from the 14 villages, said they are beginning the “Relocation, Structure and Utility Survey” subsidized by funds from the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) scheduled from October 5 until December 6.

Six teams will conduct the survey at the same time for a period of 50 days in an estimated 180 to 200 hectares of land that comprises the barangays falling within the Camp John Hay reservation.

Agbayani said another round of meeting will be scheduled with local officials after the survey is completed.

“I told the mayor that once the survey is completed, we will be meeting again and we will talk about the metes and bounds of the barangays as well as the structures, utilities in place that are available,” she said.

Through the survey, she said they will establish the exact metes and bounds of the barangays as well as clearly define overlapping titles to ensure once segregation is implemented everything will go on smoothly, accurately and transparently with legitimate claimants and occupants of these lands.

“We have been tasked to deliver transparent public service, we will go to the process, we will be awarding titles to legitimate occupants,” she said.

She said barangays Hillside and Lower Dagsian with BCDA titles are the first to be segregated and awarded to legitimate occupants not because they are favored by the BCDA-JHMC but because they are ones with the least complications.

“Hopefully, by the last quarter of next year, legitimate occupants will be awarded with the lands they have been occupying for decades,” she added.

She said the BCDA-JHMC has been strict in implementing that no land owners conduct constructions or extensions without the completing process of segregation and awarding of lots to occupants.

Joining the survey teams are representatives from the barangays, the City Planning and Development Office, Environment department, National Housing Authority and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) for barangays with ancestral land claims.

Among the barangays up for the structure, relocation and utility survey that will determine their boundaries are Hillside, Upper Dagsian, Country Club, Lucnab, Outlook Drive, Greenwater, Sta. Escholastica, Lower Dagsian, Loakan-Liwanag, Loakan-Apugan, Loakan Proper, Camp 7 and Happy Hallow.

JHMC Land Management and Development officer Bobby Akia said the clustering of the barangays will involve three kinds of titles that include the first cluster (1) villages with titles that includes portions of Hillside and Upper Dagsian; (2) untitled properties without CALTs and CADTs that include portions of Country Club, Lucnab, and Outlook Drive villages; (3) untitled properties with CALTs and CADTs that include Lower Dagsian, Loakan-Liwanag, Loakan-Apugan, Loakan Proper, Camp 7 and Happy Hallow.

The survey, Agbayani said, is very timely as JHMC also signed a Memorandum of Agreement forming a Joint Technical Working Group composed of the NCIP, JHMC, BCDA and the Office of the President to resolve issues on Certificates of Ancestral Land Titles and Certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles issued within Camp John Hay in six months.

She said Baguio City will be the pilot area of the NCIP in settling issues on CALTS and CADT claims in the country.