BAGUIO CITY – The Baguio City officials are appealing to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to issue an executive proclamation or order to transfer the open spaces within the Scout Barrio Barangay Social Housing Site to the City of Baguio.
In a recent resolution passed by the Baguio City Council, the city officials cited Presidential Decree 1216 issued on October 14, 1977 which suggests that open spaces can be donated to local government units. They argued that this aligns with the state’s policy that territorial and political subdivisions should have genuine autonomy to develop as self-reliant communities.
The council resolution stressed that this autonomy is crucial for making the communities effective partners in achieving national goals and is supported by a decentralized local government structure as outlined in the Local Government Code.
Moreover, the council resolution argued that the city government is well-suited to manage the open spaces at the housing site and is in the best position to collaborate with agencies like the Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development (DHSUD) in planning for the use of these unoccupied areas.
On December 18, 2001, then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Executive Order No. 64 declaring a property in Scout Barrio, owned by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), as a housing site.
This executive order covers the entire Scout Barrio barangay which is a 15.9-hectare portion of land under the Transfer Certificate Title No. 62887 in the name of the BCDA.
According to Sections 1 and 2 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the executive order, out of the 159,738 sqm identified for housing, 80,379 sqm is designated for the actual occupants.
The remaining 79,359 sqm is exempted from this order and remains under the jurisdiction of the BCDA.
This exempted area includes various open spaces such as forest areas, waterways, road lots including the national Loakan Road, and facilities like a basketball court, children’s playground, police station, barangay hall, school site, health center, and chapel.
It also includes reserved unoccupied areas that could be used for residential purposes as detailed in a specific plan (PSD-CAR-007557, Lot 12, Psd-131102-002639).
According to the council resolution, the former Camp John Hay Air Station allowed many civilian employees to occupy and live in specific areas within the former military reservation.
One of these areas is Scout Barrio which eventually became one of the city’s barangays.
For decades, these civilian employees have been pushing for the segregation of the lots they occupy from the reservation.
On March 13, 1992, the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992 was enacted which led to the transfer of the reservation, including the John Hay Air Station, to the BCDA.
In its desire to exclude the barangays from the John Hay Reservation, the city government enacted legislation including Resolution 362-1994 which set 19 conditions for the BCDA’s Master Development Plan for Club John Hay.
Despite ongoing disputes over certain conditions, particularly Condition No. 14 regarding the exclusion of the barangays, these conditions were imposed as required by Section 117 of the Local Government Code and the BCDA law and were acknowledged by then-President Fidel Ramos in Presidential Proclamation No. 420, Series of 1994.
For years, the city government has engaged in discussions with barangay officials, stakeholders, BCDA, and Camp John Hay management to realize the long-overdue segregation of these barangays.