BIG TICKET PITC-LIKE TERMINAL PROJECT IN BAGUIO GETS COUNCIL OKAY

June 23, 2025 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY

After its 120-day review, the Baguio City Council approved the Baguio City Integrated Terminal (BCIT) project though not without major conditions. These conditions serve as safeguards and clarifications to ensure that the city government and its stakeholders are protected, consulted, and properly benefited throughout the implementation of the project, it said. The BCIT is a planned transport hub in Dontogan
Barangay, accessible via Marcos Highway, designed to help ease congestion in the city’s Central Business District. The terminal will serve
provincial buses and public utility vehicles entering Baguio while also accommodating jeepneys, modern jeepneys, and taxis for local travel.

The facility will offer essential amenities such as ticketing booths, sheltered and comfortable waiting areas, clean restrooms with diaper-changing and lactation stations, and commercial parking, along with park-and-go services. The project is situated within a five-hectare land covered by a usufruct agreement with the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI). The BCIT began as a major initiative under a PPP scheme, with Megawide Construction Corporation submitting the original unsolicited proposal. After a successful negotiation, the City Development Council endorsed the project, prompting the city council to begin its formal review on February 6, 2025.

One of those removed in the lease agreement is that clause allowing the proponent to provide in-city transport services at its discretion. The removal of this clause restricts the private proponent strictly to terminal and related commercial operations, preventing any expansion into local transportation services that could duplicate or compete with existing public utility operations, the Baguio City councilors said. Another deleted provision was the supposed obligation by the City to assist the proponent in securing local and national permits and franchises necessary for the construction and operation of the terminal and in-city transport operations.

Deleting this provision shifts the responsibility of acquiring necessary permits solely to the proponent and reduces the City’s involvement to avoid liability or conflict with national agencies like the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), said Baguio City council information officer Jonathan Habbiling. The ordinance also deleted a clause requiring the City to create a Blocked Account with a minimum balance of P20 million. The Blocked Account is a restricted bank account that the city government is required to establish before the construction begins. Its purpose is to ensure financial security and compliance with the lease agreement.

The deletion of this clause will eliminate financial risks associated with maintaining a blocked account which could place an undue burden on the City’s finances. The ordinance also amended a provision clarifying the City’s authority and limitation in supporting the project through land use adjustments. Such amendment allows the City to reclassify or rezone the leased premises only if it is for the purposes
consistent with the agreement and only to the extent legally allowed.

The city council also imposed conditions on the project to ensure controlled traffic integration, stable lease income for the city, oversight on land use, social safeguards for affected settlers, inclusion of local communities in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) process, joint approval of terminal fee increases, use of local labor, prioritization of local Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and cooperation on resolving ancestral claims and informal settlers. Also the city council required the incorporation of stakeholder inputs into the BCIT project.

These include parking commitments, revenue sharing, fare discounts, non-transfer of liabilities to the City, venue for legal disputes, a
no-cost transfer of assets after the lease, and proposed solutions to traffic concerns. On a vote of majority of city council members the project was approved but Councilors Elmer Datuin, Leandro Yangot Jr., and Betty Lourdes Tabanda abstained. There are 14 city councilors. With the city council’s approval, the project moves to the next stages of the PPP process including the comparative challenge where other bidders may submit their proposals to compete with the original proponent.

Artemio A. Dumlao/ABN