Residents near the Loakan Airport are still waiting for updates from the city government regarding the status of their settlement.
Edouard Cayetano, Punong Barangay of Loakan Proper, told the city council last December 12 that there had not been any conference yet with the city’s Anti-Squatting and Anti-Illegal Structures Committee since 2020.
It can be remembered that, in January 2020, around 180 owners of structures reportedly situated within the buffer zone were issued notices of violation pursuant to Mayor Benjamin Magalong’s call for an investigation on the said buildings and houses. This was in preparation for the opening of the airport to commercial operations.
The buffer zone measures 75 meters from the centerline on each side of the runway.
In a council session on February 3, 2020, Engr. Stephen Capuyan, head of the Investigation and Demolition Division of the City Buildings and Architecture Office (CBAO), clarified that the violation notice was to merely inform the occupants that they had violated Section 22 of the Environment Code of the City of Baguio or Ordinance 018-2016 (prohibition against erecting a structure on a safeguarded zone). No notices of demolition had been issued yet, he said.
As part of the preliminary investigation, the residents were mandated to submit copies of their lot titles, building and occupancy permits, and other pertinent documents.
Capuyan said, based on the results of the initial investigation, most of these buildings and houses can be considered as illegal structures as they were not issued building permits and the lands were untitled.
In a recent interview, Capuyan said results of the initial investigation were already forwarded to the Anti-Squatting and Anti-Illegal Structures Committee for the latter’s appropriate action.
In a separate interview, Atty. Charles Dumasi of the City Legal Office, said the Anti-Squatting and Anti-Illegal Structures Committee had requested CAAP to initiate the conduct of a land survey to accurately identify the metes and bounds of the safeguarded zone and to exactly determine which structures are situated therein.
Dumasi disclosed that the investigation had been put on hold since CAAP had a reference point for the measurement of the bufferzone which might be different from that of CBAO’s.
According to him, the results of the land survey to be conducted by CAAP would serve as the primary basis for the government’s future actions to address the issue of squatting in the area. His advice to the affected residents was to wait for the results of the said survey.
Asked about the best course of action for titled properties found to be within the buffer zone, Dumasi broached the idea of expropriation. He said the concerned government agency or local government unit may propose to purchase these private properties. Expropriation proceedings may be initiated if the property owners reject the price offer, but it is the CAAP that will have to execute the said move, he added.
Expropriation is the government’s action of claiming private properties even against the will of the owners for public use or benefit.
During the forum with the city council on February 3, 2020, Magalong also mentioned the possibility of giving just compensation to residents holding legitimate land titles as a result of expropriation. Meanwhile, Cayetano lamented the tagging of all residents in the area as illegal settlers. He claimed that some properties therein were titled and had been there circa 1910. **Jordan G. Habbiling
