BONTOC, Mountain Province – The Regional Development Council (RDC-CAR) directed the infrastructure committee and the Committee on Indigenous Peoples Concerns to coordinate with the giant telecommunication companies wanting to put up their cell sites in the different parts of the province to identify the problems they are encountering and recommend interventions that will effectively and efficiently address the weak internet signal province-wide.
The RDC-CAR chaired by Baguio city Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan stated the need to identify the issues and concerns why the telecommunication companies cannot put cellsites and towers to improved internet signals for better access to communication by the people living in the different parts of the province.
Ralph Pablo, regional director of the Cordillera office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-CAR), said that if the areas targeted by the telecommunication companies for their cellsites are within forest reservations, these companies need to apply for the issuance of a forest land use agreement for the use of the area for such purpose.
However, if the land falls within a private land titled under the name of private owners, the telecommunication companies must seek the consent of the owners of the property.
Domogan rallied local officials to extend assistance to the `telecommunication companies to put up their cellsites in their areas of jurisdiction to ensure improved internet signals thus facilitating access to information and the latest developments in the world for users.
He also urged land owners to be reasonable in their rental demands for the lease of their properties by telecommunication companies and local officials need to intervene to address this matter which has been relayed to the region’s policy-making body as one of the problems being encountered by telecommunication companies wanting to put up their cellsites in strategic parts of the province.
In its 2017 second quarter meeting in Bontoc, the RDC-CAR discussed the matter of weak internet signals in the province but no significant development on the issue was reached over the past two years due to the excessive lease rentals of private lands being demanded by lot owners for the use of their properties as cellsites.
Local officials and people from the different parts of the province have time and again complained on the weak internet and communication signals from the telecommunication companies operating in the province.
By Dexter A. See