Councilors oppose City Charter Change

April 9, 2022 Metro BLISTT

Members of the Baguio City Council Friday attempt a last-minute appeal to President Rodrigo Duterte to veto a bill that amends the city’s 103-year old Charter which the president must sign by Monday, April 11. In a hastily called press conference at Luisa’s Café after sending a copy of the city council resolution urging the president to veto House Bill 8882 which both chambers of Congress passed on third and final reading last March 7.
According to Baguio City Councilor Isabelo Cosalan Jr., one of the issues that should be stressed in the House Bill 8882 or an Act Revising the Charter of the City of Baguio is the meets and bounds or the territories and boundaries of Baguio with other municipalities and areas.
The approved bill has been relayed to the Malacañang for Duterte’s signature to make it into law or veto it. A letter of communication from the Office of the President reaches the local officials of Baguio that if the said bill will not be acted upon by Duterte, it will automatically be a law on April 11, 2022.
Last March 24, nine councilors through a resolution plead to the president not to sign said bill. They argued that the bill will not require the ratification or will not need to pass through a plebiscite as they were told that it is only an amendment. Councilor Arthur Allad-iw said this is a violation of the Constitutional rights of the residents of Baguio City.
He said that is an outright disregard for the people who will be directly affected by the bill. The councilor added that they are opposing HB 8882 because it also failed the issue of the claimants of ancestral lands of Baguio. The councilors expressed that these are but some of the many issues that should be addressed if only there is proper consultation.
The local lawmakers said that if the bill will be enacted into law, they will not stop their initiatives to stop it. They said one of the measures is that the House Representative of the city be changed and the one who will change him will file another bill to repeal HB 8882. Councilor Mylen Yaranon said another possible measure is for the bill to be repealed through a people’s initiative as provided by the Philippine Constitution.
BCDA Favored Cosalan said that the recently passed bill is also pro-Bases Conversion Development Authority which stands to gain 55 hectares to its presence in violation of the 19 conditionalities under Resolution 362 signed in 1994 that set the condition on the development of the former American base.
He said: “Instead of segregating 13 barangays (it’s land area) was increased.” BCDA has 570 hectares at present and under the Go bill, it’s 625 hectares. He added: “The 19 conditionalities should be included in the city charter revision.” “If the bill is approved, the community will be prevented from using resources found within John Hay.
But the 19 conditionalities state that BCDA should source it from outside,” Alad-iw argued.
Tolentino Thanked Last February, chair of the Senate Committee on Local Government for HB 8882 which amends the charter authored by Justice George Malcolm. Go said: “We thank our dear colleague for his consideration, support, and invaluable inputs that would enable our city to achieve its developmental goals along with the preservation of its culture and environment.”
There were previous attempts to revise the city’s charter. It was however during the second term of Go that the “technical teams from both House of Representatives and Senate have intensely collaborated with government agencies and stakeholders to ensure a comprehensive bill where the issues raised in the President’s veto message in 2013 were appropriately addressed.” Go said the “revised charter is an embodiment of objectives, core values, policies, structure, rules, procedures, and provisions that do not exist in our current charter to attain effectiveness in local governance.”
Go said that once signed into law, the “charter will enable our city’s continuous growth amid these dynamic times and be able to respond to the multitude of issues and growing concerns brought about by urbanization and development.”
Tolentino in a letter to Go after forwarding the bill to Malacañang said the city’s revised charter “will be the template for future city charters.”
Go added: “I hope that this measure will accelerate the road for Baguio City to truly become the paradigm of a resilient, sustainable, inclusive, and livable city in the Philippines.”
Pigeon Lobien/ABN