BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan emphasized that all remaining illegal structures within the 5,000-square meter Benguet-Ifugao-Bontoc-Apayao-Kalinga (BIBAK) property will be dismantled by the members of the City Demolition Team starting October 16, 2017 after the prescribed deadline for the voluntary removal of the illegal structures on October 15, 2017.
The local chief executive disclosed that the final extension given by the local government, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to the informal settlers to voluntarily remove their illegal structures on the government property will be on or before October 15, 2017 which was also conferred by duly authorized representatives of the Presidential Commission on the Urban Poor (PCUP).
He added PCUP representatives were also instrumental in the decision of concerned officials to provide the informal settlers with the final extension on the implementation of the demolition order because they guaranteed the eventual dismantling of the illegal structures considering the on-going negotiations being done by the affected individuals for the purchase of their proposed relocation site in La Trinidad, Benguet with the assistance of the presidential body.
“Our credibility had been affected by the series of re-scheduling of the dismantling of the illegal BIBAK structures tracing back several years ago that is why the October 15, 2017 deadline will be the final one,” Domogan stressed.
He expressed his gratitude to the informal settlers for their continuous compliance to the rules imposed by the local government prior to the prescribed deadline for their voluntary demolition wherein they must already stop their business activities in the area and the fact that a good number of informal settlers already removed their illegal structures.
The decision to fix the final deadline for the dismantling of the illegal BIBAK structures was also signed by DENR-CAR regional director Ralph Pablo and NCIP-CAR regional director Roland Calde.
After the voluntary removal of the illegal structures within the government property, the local government and concerned government agencies agreed to fence the property and for the concerned officials to prepare the area master development plan that will serve its purpose as a site for the put up of the affordable dormitories to house deserving indigenous peoples from the different parts of the region who are studying in the city.
The Office of the President, through the NCIP, is the declared official caretaker of the prime lot that is located within the heart of the city and considered to be a potential business zone as it is situated within the city’s central business district area.
Domogan assured that the October 15, 2017 deadline given to the informal settlers to demolish their illegal structures that were found to be inside the BIBAK property will no longer be extended because the informal settlers were already given enough time to relocate.
By Dexter A. See
