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Monday, September 06, 2004
Coddling seen as cause of Baguio's land woes
By Jane Cadalig
THE land problems facing Baguio City, which include squatting and conflicting land claims, is reportedly due to the "accommodationist" attitude or coddling by the government of informal settlers.
University of the Philippines associate professor of economics Gladys Cruz said that ordinary citizens who could not afford to acquire lands of their own resort to informal means of acquiring such "either through tenancy or squatting."
Cruz claimed that this was because the government could not enforce its rights to its own property.
"The general policy attitude (of the government) towards informal settlers is accommodationist Government itself is unable to enforce its own rights to government property."
Cruz also reported that despite the severe land problems seen to beset the city, such had not been a hindrance to the construction of buildings even in dangerous terrain.
"Baguio faces severe land constraints not only for housing, infrastructure development and expansion, (but also) for industrial development," she claimed.
She disclosed that during pre-war times, most of Baguio's land had already been appropriated for various institutional purposes.
She also said the rapid increase in the city's population had been a contributory factor to the shortage of adequate housing.
Cruz said that despite the 10-fold population increase, only around 20 percent of the city's land area had been set aside for housing.
But Cruz said the perennial housing backlog was made more complex by a combination of political, economic and legal factors that restricted its effective resolution.
As a result, the housing needs primarily of the growing student population remain unresolved.
"There's no hope that lands could expand, (and) continued urbanization will undoubtedly increase pressure on basic utilities such as water, garbage disposal and transportation."
She maintained that Baguio remains as an attractive place to live in, and as such, these issues need to be addressed.
(September 6, 2004 issue)
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