Thursday, April 24, 2008 Amendments to city charter anti-poor: group By Rimaliza Opiña
RESIDENTS of Barangay Irisan belonging to the Irisan Peoples Action for Democracy and Good Governance (Ipadegg) are against the amendments to the city's charter as proposed by Baguio Representative Mauricio Domogan.
In a statement, the group said instead of rectifying past mistakes when Baguio was being established as a chartered city, the proposed amendment to the city's charter "perpetrates the wrongs committed in the past as the bill oversimplifies and may even exacerbate the already chaotic land disposition scheme in the city."
The significant amendments to House Bill (HB) 2813 or the Act Revising the Baguio City charter is the titling of all lands, including the 211 titles in the name of the City Government. The 221 titles, or the so-called Igorot titles, were declared null and void by the Supreme Court (SC) after a long drawn out court battle.
Under the proposal, a selection committee headed by the mayor may dispose the public lands through public bidding.
While this process appears to give equal opportunity for every Baguio resident to own parcels of land, the Ipadegg said this process would disqualify families who are already occupying lots and have introduced improvements in favor of the wealthy.
"HB 2813 deprives the rights of ownership of people in actual occupation of lands," the Ipadegg said.
"Instead, titles should be issued to actual occupants," the group said while lamenting the alleged name calling done by Domogan in one committee hearing at Congress last March 12.
The bill will soon be discussed in Congress' plenary sessions after being deliberated thrice at the committee level and reviewed by the committee on local government.
The Ipadegg said thorough public consultations and discussions should be done to achieve more insights on the proposal.
"We enjoin all sectors to participate in the consultation process and to present their sentiments, especially the urban poor sector who will be largely affected by this bill. We encourage the Baguio community and their organizations to use this opportunity to articulate their concerns so that these can be included in crafting a comprehensive charter," the Ipadegg said and asked the City Council to lead in the proposed consultation process.
