LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The provincial board unanimously passed a resolution strongly supporting Resolution No. 77, series of 2021 of the Tuba municipal council that demanded the Baguio City government to reconsider its Baguio-locals-first hiring policy enshrined under Ordinance No. 48, series of 2021.
Under Resolution No. 1140, series of 2022, the board stated that upon careful study by the members of the aforesaid resolution and policy, it found merit to support this as it will give job seekers from La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba and Tublay (LISTT) to be part of the work force of the country’s Summer Capital in the spirit of cooperation and enhancing socio-economic commerce and the prosperity in the BLISTT communities.
Earlier, the Tuba municipal council passed Resolution No. 77, series of 2021 on May 4, 2021 which urged the Baguio City government to reconsider its Baguio-locals-first hiring policy under Ordinance No. 48, series of 2021, and include the workforce from the LISTT areas.
The Tuba council claimed that the scrapping of the parochial policy will improve the spirit of cooperation and enhance the prosperity and quality of life of all residents in the BLISTT areas, unlike in the present condition that it is always the interest of Baguio City that is being given weight in deciding what will be the programs, projects and activities of concerned government agencies that will be implemented in the said areas.
Last year, the Baguio City council enacted Ordinance No. 48, series of 2021 mandating all employers in the city to ensure that 90 percent of their workforce consists of qualified and bonafide residents of the Summer Capital.
Further, the ordinance mandated all establishments to prioritize qualified and bonafide Baguio residents who are registered and referred to them by the Public Employment Service Office (PESO).
However, the Tuba council argued that there are also residents from the town’s 13 barangays who opt to work in the different establishments operating in the city but they are not able to get jobs even if they are qualified because of this discriminatory policy.
According to the municipal council, the aforesaid ordinance limits qualified job seekers from the LISTT areas from being employed in the city amidst the lapse into law of Republic Act (RA) 11932, otherwise known as the Metropolitan Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) Development Authority of Act of 2022, which is supposed to prioritize the growth and development of the member local governments through coordinated planning and implementation of appropriate development interventions in the future.
Many concerned sectors raised concern on the lapse into law of the MBLISTTDA because there are still numerous gray areas in the provisions which could not actually be simply complimented by the crafting of the implementing rules and regulations as the same had been rashly done to suit the interest of Baguio City and simply use the resources of the nearby towns to address its problems caused by city’s rapid urban decay.
The sectors also questioned the rush being done in the crafting of the implementing rules and regulations of the law when there are yet a lot of things to be done to address the evidently one-sided provisions of the law leading to the benefit of Baguio City.
