Domogan to file mixture of local, reg’l, nat’l measures

BAGUIO CITY – Presumptive Representative Mauricio G. Domogan said he will be filing various legislative measures of local, regional and national application during his first one hundred days in office aside from accessing the needed funding support for the different projects that will be of great help in the city’s growth and development.

Domogan claimed that among the proposed bills that are at the top of his priority include the significant amendments to the revised city charter; the segregation of areas within various reservations in the city such as in Gibraltar, Mines View, Lias, Loakan Apugan, Navy Base, PMA among others; the correction of the metes and bounds of Camp John Hay which is owned by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the mode of disposal of alienable and disposable lands from the current townsite sales application (TSA) to the much simpler miscellaneous sales application (MSA) to allow qualified homelot applicants to be directly awarded the lands they currently occupy.

He pointed out that the proposed amendments to the city charter will contain provisions on the technical description of the city’s metes and bounds to embody the long standing settlement agreement between Baguio and the nearby town of Tuba, Benguet so that the city will still maintain its prescribed land area of 57.49 square kilometers.

The former 6-term mayor and 3-term congressman emphasized that the Cordillera autonomy bill is also an equally important legislation to be filed to continue drumbeating the region’s clamor for self-determination and to achieve the constitutional provision mandating the establishment of an autonomous region in the Cordillera through the enactment of an enabling law.

Domogan asserted that the realization of Cordillera autonomy will be the legacy of the present generation to the upcoming generations so for them to enjoy the fruits of having to effectively and efficiently govern the region with its own organic law.

He emphasized that autonomy is long overdue and it is important to conduct sustained and aggressive information and education campaign to inculcate to the people on the ground the benefits of self-determination that will help move people out from the shackles of poverty because of the adoption and implementation of policies that are applicable to the present situation in the region as the current policies of the national government are no longer applicable to the present regional situation.

Domogan will also be refiling the bill mandating companies exploiting, developing and utilizing the State’s rich natural resources within the jurisdiction of local governments to directly remit to their host communities their share from the national wealth taxes being paid to the Bureau of Interval Revenue (BIR) so that the concerned local governments will be able to immediately use these for their respective big ticket initiatives.

According to him, another bill of national application that he intends to file is the proposed Magna Carta for Garbage Workers for them to be granted benefits, such as hazard pay, among others, that will be provided by law considering the difficult nature of their duties and responsibilities and their exposure to extreme hazards of the trade. By HENT