BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan disclosed the city government will pursue the demolition of the over 58 illegal structures that were built over the 5,000-square meter property of the Banguet-IfugaoBontoc-Apayao-Kalinga (BIBAK) student dormitories along Harrison from August 11-14 while the dismantling of over 400 illegal structures at the Baguio Dairy Farm will push through upon the discretion of the local court.
The local chief executive admitted that the affected informal settlers constantly visited him and appealed to him to grant them an extension of two years to stay within the property which he immediately denied considering that such proposal is unreasonable.
“We had been criticized on our failure to immediately implement the demolition order of the illegal structures built over the BIBAK property that is why we are inclined to pursue the dismantling of the illegal structures if we will not be able to receive a reasonable proposal from the affected individuals by next week,” Domogan stressed.
It was learned that the City Building and Architecture Office (CBAO) already issued the appropriate notices of demolition to the owners of the illegal structures notifying them that the demolition will be done by the middle part of August.
ON the issue of the demolition of the over 400 illegal structures within the Baguio Dairy Farm, the city mayor said the decision now lies with the Municipal Trial Court in cities (MTCC) where the case filed by the squatters against the impending demolition was dismissed and awaiting the issuance of the appropriate writ of execution authorizing the concerned government agencies and the city government to push through with the dismantling of the illegal structures.
According to him, the lower court already ruled in favour of the government in a case that is why the city government is simply awaiting the issuance of the writ of execution so that it will be able to extend assistance in the demolition of the illegal structures.
Earlier, the city government created a multi-agency and local government task force that conducted an inventory on the actual number of illegal structures that were built in the Baguio Dairy Farm so that the appropriate notices of demolition will be issued to them to voluntary vacate the area or the concerned agencies will be constrained to dismantle their structures.
Initially, there were at least 340 structures that were identified to have squatted on the Baguio portion of the reservation that is why the municipal government of Tuba will be simply providing the augmentation force once the court will allow the dismantling activities to proceed after having resolved all pending petitions relative to the said case.
Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala insinuated that the agency is incline to maximize the use of the Baguio Dairy Farm for its prescribed purpose that is why appropriate coordination was done with the city government and the Tuba municipal government to facilitate the immediate implementation of the dismantling of the illegal structures that were built in the reservation.
Domogan appealed to the affected informal settlers by voluntarily removing their structures so that they will be able to save important parts of their homes instead of awaiting the members of the demolition team to undertake the dismantling activities.
