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Baguio dad urges speedy delineation in CJH

Affected residents advised to organize

BAGUIO CITY (Jan. 12) — “The segregation process for the delineation of built-up areas in the Camp John Hay Forest Reservation (CJH reservation) must be rushed so that actual occupants could do what they wished on their land,” said Baguio Councilor Jose Mencio Molintas who heads the city’s Committee on Human Rights, Justice, Public Protection and Safety, Peace and Order. He urged the people in 13 barangays inside the reservation to organize as he asked that demolitions be held in abeyance in order not to pre-empt the city council’s efforts to delineate areas for release from the CJH reservation.

The said reservation is a 273-hectare special economic zone estate awarded by virtue of Republic Act 7227 or the Bases Conversion Development Authority Act. The segregation of 13 barangays is one condition imposed by former Baguio officials when they endorsed the master development plan for CJH in 1996.

Molintas said in a committee consultation on Jan. 12 that while people living inside the CJH reservation maintain that the area is part of their ancestral domain, the John Hay Management Corporation (JHMC) thinks otherwise and is in fact aggressive at maintaining its control over the area.

PD 705, still a threat

The dialogue sprang from a petition filed by residents of Brgy. Happy Hollow and Liwanag who appeared before the council on Jan. 10. The residents said that Presidential Decree 705, the Philippine forestry code enacted during the Marcos era continues to work against indigenous peoples, particularly Ibaloi and Kankanaey families in Happy Hollow and other affected barangays here.

On the other hand, the said forestry law was cited by Atty. Lyssa GS Pagano-Calde, legal counsel of JHMC, as the basis for the demolition of a number of shanties in Happy Hollow and Liwanag barangays recently. The directive authorized scout rangers to demolish three houses in Happy Hollow and one in Baguio Country Club Village in December. A storehouse in Happy Hallow was also demolished on January 10 this year. The Marcos decree prohibits habitation in areas 18 per cent in slope, making the entire Cordillera and other mountainous regions a public domain.

Prior right?

“Nagpakpaka-asi ak kadakuada, ‘Inted ti Diyos a pagyanan ti tao ti daga,’ ngem sinungbatandak ti English a saan ko pulos a naawatan,” (I pleaded before her saying “God gave this land for people to stay” but she answered in English which I didn’t understand) Martha Dayog told the city council during the citizen’s forum at the council session on January 10.

Dayog claimed that her ancestors have lived in the area for more than one hundred years and said she even showed the JHMC authorities some documents which the Americans issued her father after the war (WWII). The documents included an original official receipt of the Commonwealth of the Philippines on October 15, 1949 when Bernal Tindaan, her deceased father, paid the commonwealth government treasury P518 apparently in fines and real property taxes.

“Saanda a binigbig dagiti dokumento,” (She did not honor the documents) Dalog narrated. She said she could not read, write nor speak any language but Iloko and her native tongue Inibaloi. “Uray diak mabasa ti nakasurat iti dokumento, ammok a nagbaybayad kami ti buwis ti dagami,” Even if I could not read what was written in the documents, I know that we have been paying our taxes for our land) she opined.

No demolition: no construction

In a dialogue with the concerned residents on January 12, Molintas initiated a moratorium. Pagano-Calde and then Philippine Army Major George Demot who is at present the Security Manager of the JHMC, were both in the dialogue.

Residents, however, seemed unhappy over the new moratorium because they said, the JHMC controls even their improvements, citing cases where building materials were confiscated in check-points maintained by forest rangers.

“Uray plywood ket alaenda,” (They confiscate even a piece of plywood) a woman told the committee hearing.

Demot, however said that if the barangay captain certifies, materials could get a gate pass from JHMC.

In 2002, there was a moratorium to demolitions but repairs were allowed. In 2003, however, the moratorium was amended and disallowed the renovation, expansion and additional structures in the CJH reservation.

Residents claim that they were not informed of the conditions of the moratorium. They said that families grow and children have grown into adults who eventually formed new families. This entailed building their own houses on lands their parents gave them, the residents reasoned out.

Segregation efforts in Club John Hay Reservation

Happy Hollow is one of 13 barangays to be segregated from CJH reservation. It is included in the 19-point conditionality as contained in City Resolution # 362 the city council passed for compliance by the CJH. The others are Loakan, Apugan, Liwanag, Lucnab, Scout Barrio, Green Water, Hillside, Dagsian, Lualhati, Baguio Country Club Village, Gabriela Silang and Sta. Scholastica.

In 2001, JHMC started mapping of structures and census of actual occupants in the reservation to justify a congressional declaration that the area is alienable and disposable in favor of the occupants. A presidential action is necessary for the approval of the segregation.

Only Scout Barrio has been delineated when residents here agreed to pay P300 per square meter to the BCDA in 1999.

A Brgy. Segregation Committee was earlier formed with then Mayor Bernardo Vergara as head and the city council and officials of the 13 affected barangays as members. After the titling of Scout Barrio, however, the segregation efforts stopped, according to Happy Hollow Brgy. Capt. Joseph Sacley who was also in the dialogue.

The May elections suspended the operations of the segregation committee and has not since functioned, the barangay captain told the Molintas body. # Lyn V. Ramo for NORDIS

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