BAGUIO CITY – The local legislative body passed a resolution strongly opposing the plans of the State-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and its subsidiary, the John Hay Management Corporation (JHMC), of constructing a hospital at Scout Barrio Barangay.
The BCDA-JHMC intends to put up a hospital at Scout Barrio to cater to the health needs of people living in the various barangays or the 14 barangays that are within the 680-hectare Camp John Hay forest and watershed reservation.
The resolution claimed the area identified to be as possible site of the proposed facility is an open space being used by the people of Scout Barrio and other neighboring barangays for different purposes such as camping sites, gatherings, sports activities, evacuation site in times of disasters, among others.
Further, the resolution stated the proposed hospital site is among the remaining open spaces of the barangay and the construction of a hospital or any other large structure in the said area will only result to ecological damages that will compromise the state of the city’s environment.
The proposed Scout Barrio Hospital will definitely serve as an added health facility in the city and will complement the operation of other existing public and private hospitals located in the different parts of the city and help in reducing the overcrowding in the said health facilities.
Scout Barrio is one of the city’s 14 barangays within the Camp John Hay forest reservation which are the subject of the segregation process being undertaken to allow residents to own the lands and structures they have occupied over the past several decades.
One of the conditions imposed by the local government for the development of the 247-hectare John Hay Special Economic Zones (JHSEZ) is for the segregation of the 14 barangays from the reservation and for the award of the lost to the qualified homelot applicants who happen to be bonafide residents of the said barangays.
However, the proposed segregation of the 14 barangays remain a commitment that has not yet been fulfilled by the BCDA because of certain conflicts in the areas subject to the segregation process considering the different positions of the BCDA, the local government and the concerned barangays on the said issue.
BCDA is the administrator of all former American rest and recreation facilities in the country where proceeds of the lease of the properties will be utilized for the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), among other needs of the military.
The resolution will be transmitted to the City Mayor’s Office for Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan to decide whether to sign the same or veto it and return the said document to the local legislative body.
By Dexter A. See
