BAGUIO CITY August 31 – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan was surprised to receive a report from concerned local government offices and law enforcement agencies that there are still one hundred fifty illegal structures within the Baguio Dairy Farm that have yet to be demolished by the combined members of the city demolition team and concerned government agencies. These undemolished structures are worth millions of pesos.
The local chief executive said that it will be up to the Cordillera office of the Department of Agriculture (DA-CAR) and the sheriff to answer the questions that are now arising on why the remaining structures were not demolished when the special writ of demolition issued by a local court provides for the dismantling of more than 334 illegal structures that were erected on the government property.
He admitted there are now valid issues that are arising from the outright demolition of the small illegal structures while the big ones were allegedly left for future dismantling but there were undisclosed issues that cropped up which caused the temporary suspension of the on-going demolition activities in the area.
“It will up to be the concerned government agencies to explain the delay in the demolition of the illegal structures within the Baguio Dairy Farm property. We should remember that the demolition of the illegal structures was an offshoot of a final and executory decision handed down by a local court and not the local government that is why it is the DA-CAR and the sheriff that will have to answer all the issues and concerns that have cropped up,” Domogan stressed.
The 92-hectare Baguio Dairy Farm is a proclaimed government property under the agriculture department which is supposed to be used to mass produce dairy products but a good portion of its area has been squatted upon by hundreds of informal settlers.
According to him, aside from personnel of the City Public Order and Safety Division (POSD), the local government also deployed some 100 warm bodies from the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) who served as peacekeeping officers in the implementation of the initial wave of demolition of the 180 illegal structures.
He urged the DA-CAR and the sheriff to hasten the resolution of the issues that have cropped up during the initial wave of the demolition so that the dismantling or the removal of the remaining structures will push through.
Domogan admitted that the deployment of 100 police officers for the security of the demolition team at the Dairy Farm was one of the reasons why the August 15, 2017 scheduled demolition of the illegal structures within the Benguet-Ifugao-Bontoc-Apayao-Kalinga (BIBAK) property along Harrison Road. The dismantling of the illegal BIBAK structures was reset for October 15, 2017.** By Dexter A. See
