According to City Market Superintendent Ceasar Emilio, around 401 applications for the market amnesty remain unprocessed. With the lack of manpower, the Baguio City Market Authority (BCMA) finds it challenging to process all these applications.
For the first batch under Ordinance 86-2021, 351 applications were received, with only 94 approved and 257 still under investigation and inspection. Meanwhile, 185 applications were received for the second batch under Ordinance 69-2023 and are still awaiting action. These 401 applicants will have to wait until the BCMA comes up with a method to expedite the application process.
Moreover, the city government is still determining the status of the 135 stalls that were affected by the structural fire in the public market last year.
These figures were revealed during the Baguio City Council’s regular session on July 8, 2024 where Emilio was invited to update the city council on the progress of processing applications for the market amnesty.
Emilio said the overwhelming backlogs were caused by a lack of manpower, exacerbated by the structural fire. A task force and a technical working group were created to conduct investigations and inspections on the pending market amnesty applications. However, he said that issues with the availability of the task force and technical working group members had hindered the process.
City Legal officer Althea Alberto said there are only four members of the technical working group who conduct site inspections on stalls with amnesty applications. These four members also have other government duties.
Councilor Isabelo Cosalan Jr., former chair of the city council’s Committee on Market, Trade, Commerce, and Agriculture, revealed his office had received complaints from market amnesty applicants whose concerns had not been addressed for a considerable period.
Cosalan urged Emilio to act on the cases promptly, especially those endorsed by the city council for immediate resolution.
Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan recalled that in one of the city council sessions, Emilio was reminded to urgently address illegal practices in the city market such as certain individuals managing multiple stalls. To date, no reports have been submitted to the city council regarding actions taken to address these issues, Olowan said.
The market amnesty program, initially established through Ordinance 86-2021 and subsequently amended by Ordinance 69-2023 to extend another application period, intends to rectify violations such as subleasing, selling, or mortgaging of market stalls, use of dummies, and unauthorized occupation in stalls.
It provides opportunities for the transfer of leasehold rights of the market stalls from the original leaseholder to the actual occupants.
Under Ordinance 86-2021, for the transfer of leasehold rights, upon presenting a Deed of Sale and a Waiver of Rights or acknowledgment by the registered leaseholder of the transfer, the transferee will be issued a Contract of Lease, provided that the transferee is personally or physically conducting business in the stall.
For a stall whose registered leaseholder is already deceased, the compulsory heirs of the deceased person must execute an Extra-Judicial Settlement or Waiver of Rights designating a person (who may not necessarily be a compulsory heir) to be the next registered leaseholder.
For a leaseholder who is sub-leasing or mortgaging their stall or using a dummy, they must terminate this relationship. The leaseholder, with the consent of the other party, may regain occupancy of the stall. Should both parties fail to agree, the Contract of Lease will be revoked or canceled, and the stall will be declared vacant.
The BCMA will conduct a preliminary review of the affidavit and supporting documents of the actual occupant and issue a Notice of Violation to the registered leaseholder, giving the latter 15 days to contest the allegations and evidence of the occupant.
The BCMA will then conduct a full investigation to be completed in not more than 30 days.
Whoever the BCMA decides in favor of, whether the leaseholder or the occupant, the right over the stall will be granted to them.
Any person who is not satisfied with the BCMA’s adjudication of stalls may file an appeal before the city council within 30 days from the date of the issuance of notice of adjudication as provided for in Section 162 of the Tax Ordinance.
The ordinance also prescribes the requirements for an actual occupant and the rental rates of a sold/mortgaged stall or a previously sub-leased stall.
Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda, author of the market amnesty ordinance, advised the concerned executive offices to enforce standards for resolving leasehold rights issues rather than handling them on a case-by-case basis. She also reminded them that an implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the ordinance exists which should guide these offices in effectively enforcing the market amnesty program.
Meanwhile, Emilio said, currently, there are 10 stalls that have been ordered closed due to conflicts involving leasehold rights.
Tabanda stressed that the city government continues to lose revenue from the rentals of these closed stalls.
City Treasurer Alex Cabarrubias said they will conduct an inventory of all these vacant stalls in the public market in preparation for the bidding before this year ends. **Jordan G. Habbiling