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Mayor wants status of BIBAK lot verified

BAGUIO CITY (Jan. 20) — Mayor Braulio Yaranon last week directed the city administrator’s office to verify the status of a parcel of land located at Harrison Road, which used to house the dormitory for students from the Cordillera region previously managed by the Centralized Benguet-Ifugao-Bontoc-Apayao-Kalinga (BIBAK) Association.

The mayor made the directive to city administrator Peter Fianza in support of the call of the Sangguniang Bayan of Tuba, Benguet to determine the status of the said lot.

The Tuba town council passed a resolution inquiring from the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Land Management Bureau on the status of said dormitory site, whether or not it is still owned by the Cordillera students.

“With the uncontrollable financial crisis and the high cost of house rent/boarding apartments, this body cannot help but recall the status of the site of the BIBAK dormitory constructed in Baguio City,” the council noted.

“Said former dormitory was a great help to poor students from the different provinces in the Cordillera who came to the city to pursue higher education.”

In 2004, former Vice-mayor Betty Lourdes Tabanda proposed a resolution requesting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to issue an executive order to declare the said lot formerly occupied by the Cordillera Regional Assembly (CRA) as site for student housing dormitory facilities.  

Tabanda said she made the proposal after reports reached her that private individuals have introduced improvements in the area.

In her proposed measure, Tabanda recalled that the two buildings were constructed on said lot in the early 1960’s and were managed by the BIBAK as a dormitory for students from the Cordillera interior.

The management of the buildings were turned over to the then Ministry of Human Settlements-National Housing Authority and in 1983, the city engineer issued a demolition order to pave the way for the construction of student housing facilities by the said agencies but the planned demolition was aborted with the abolition of the MHS-NHA.

In 1990, the Cordillera Executive Board (CEB)caused the construction of the BIBAK multi-purpose building on the site of the former dormitory but Tabanda said there was no record of a building permit for said structure.

In November of same year, the CEB turned over the building to the Office of the National Cultural Communities but the Cordillera Regional Assembly continued to occupy the facility. # Aileen P. Refuerzo/PIO

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