BAGUIO City Mayor Mauricio Domogan lashed out at proponents of the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay Development Authority (BLISTTDA) for using the former Carabao Mountain or Quirino Hill area to depict the effects of urbanization to the state of the environment of the city.
Domogan said such gesture is unfair and embarrassing to the people of the barangays within the said area who were beneficiaries of the declared relocation site.
The local chief executive underscored the former Carabao Mountain was declared as a relocation site way back in the 1960s by former city officials and eventually served its purpose to a good number of residents who are awaiting the issuance of the titles to the properties they occupy through the miscellaneous sales application (MSA) mode.
“It is too easy for some people to make pronouncements to move people out of Baguio City because of the city’s supposed congestion but it is actually difficult to do so because of the numerous implications attached to it. It is also unfair to the residents of Quirino Hill to be used as an example by the proponents of the BLISTTDA to depict the city’s congestion because the said area is not the only overcrowded place in the city,” Domogan stressed.
Domogan said the structures erected on Quirino Hill suffered the least damage or even none at all during the July 16, 1990 killer earthquake while those constructed with the assistance and supervision of experts were the ones that crumbled.
The situation only shows the structures in Quirino Hill area were sturdily built and there is no clear basis to use the situation of place to showcase the city’s supposed congestion, according to the mayor.
On the other hand, Domogan explained forcibly moving people out of Baguio as advised by some BLISTTDA proponents and advocates is another complicated matter that must be reviewed because residents legally occupying spaces cannot just be driven away from their titled properties as these have serious legal repercussions.
Domogan argued there are no laws prohibiting people from travelling, spending a vacation and legally building a structure in the city because the proposal to prohibit people from flocking to the city undermines the right of the people to travel. (PR)