SABLAN, Benguet – The municipal government recently warned residents against the rampant sale and disposal of their lands and the subsequent conversion of these into residential areas that will eventually compromise the town’s robust agriculture sector and have a negative impact on the state of the environment in the area.
Mayor Alfredo Dacumos, Jr. said that there are reports that some enterprising individuals have been allegedly buying lands in the various barangays of the municipality and subsequently subdivided the same into small parcels of land purposely for residential structures and are now selling the properties at extremely high cost.
He claimed that residents cannot afford the high cost of the subdivided lands being sold to them by supposed land speculators that is why those who are being enticed to buy these properties are those from outside the Cordillera wanting to have their residences in Baguio City or in nearby areas like Sablan.
“We do not want Sablan to be overwhelmed by residential structures, that is why we are studying available options to contain the rampant sale of properties, especially to those moneyed individuals from outside the municipality. We want to maintain the beauty and grandeurs of Sablan as an agri-tourism area worth visiting from time to time” Mayor Dacumos stressed.
The municipal chief executive pointed out that there should always be a balance between development and the state of the environment in the municipality that is why the rampant conversion of agricultural lands should not be tolerated.
Sablan owns the distinction of being the fruit basket of Benguet because of the ability of temperate fruits to thrive in the municipality due to its prevailing conducive climate allowing residents to venture into fruit production.
According to him, moneyed individuals buy several hectares of land and eventually subdivide them into parcels of land with an estimated area of 200 to 300 square meters each then sell the same to people wanting to reside in the locality.
However, he said that those who are interested to purchase the parcelized property are the outsiders wanting to own properties in Baguio or nearby communities to serve as their vacation homes that tend to affect the density of the various areas in the locality and spike the price of land.
The mayor pointed out that there will come a time that the communities in the municipality will be heavily dense similar to the situation in Baguio and that they do not want the same to happen because they want to maintain the town’s robust agriculture industry to provide residents with decent sources of income.
Under the World Bank study in 1995 that recommended the creation of the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba (BLIST) growth area prior to the inclusion of Tublay, Sablan was identified as a housing site that will cater to the residential needs of the rapidly growing population in the said area.
Dacumos called on residents not to unscrupulously sell their lands to enterprising individuals at cheap prices to help in preserving and protecting the town’s agriculture and environment from eventual degradation in the future. By Dexter A. See
