BAGUIO CITY – Environmentalists want the city council to pass the long pending proposed ordinance providing for the city’s environment code considering that it was the product of extensive public consultations in order to spare the environment from further damaged.
Former councillor and chairman of the Baguio Regreening Movement (BRM) Erdolfo Balajadja said the ball now lies on the incumbent councillors whether to approve the measure with amendments considering the need to put in place the needed programs to preserve and protect the city’s environment from deteriorating.
The former city official and an advocate for environment preservation and protection claimed that several elections have passed but the important environment code has not yet been passed thereby posing a serious threat to the city’s environment because individuals and groups might take advantage of the situation.
Among the salient points of the city’s environment code include the collection of user fees from the use of the different parts in the city, the implementation of a total ban on mining and quarrying the conduct of regreening activities and other related activities to sustain the city’s environment for the same to be passed on to generations.
For her part, Dra. Julie Cabato, a well-respected environmentalist, said there is nothing wrong if the city government will collect fees on the use of parks, provided that, the amount should be made affordable as it is natural that fees will have to be collected from the use of parks for maintenance and operation of such facilities.
However, some councilirs said the proposed environment code contains provisions that ran counter to the provisions of existing and pending ordinances that is why proponents of the said code must remove such conflicting provisions to guarantee the immediate passage of the measure.
Councilor Betty Lourdes F. Tabanda said matters in relation to the imposition of building height limit should be left to the city land use plan and updated zoning ordinance, issues relative to ecotourism and tourism development must be left within the jurisdiction of the approved tourism code while matters on the regulation of pyrotechnics and fireworks displays by private and government organizations should be left to the jurisdiction of the ordinance to be passed whether or not to regulate or totally ban the use of firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials in the city.
The council agreed to calendar the discussion of the environment code for second reading after publication starting February 29, 2016 to allow individual councillors to submit their proposed amendments, particularly those conflicting provisions with that of existing approved and pending ordinances, in order to guarantee the passage of the measure the soonest.
Councilor Fred Bagbagen, chairman of the committee on environmental preservation and protection and health and sanitation, said the technical working group that reviewed the ordinance found out that there were no provisions in the environment code that contradicts approved and pending ordinances but he is open to discussing such conflicting provisions in the coming sessions in order to ensure the passage of the ordinance which has been pending in the council for so long.
By Dexter A. See
