BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Benjamin Magalong and Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources Cordillera (DENR-CAR) Regional Executive Director Ralph Pablo set a public consultation on the moratoriums on building constructions and tree-cutting being advocated by some sectors in the city on July 29, 3 p.m. at the DENR-CAR regional office.
The two executives in a meeting last Tuesday considered pursuing a halt in constructions in the city to give the city a breather from building activities and allow the city to concentrate on rehabilitating the city’s environs.
However to solidify their position, they agreed to subject the idea to public consultation along with the petition for a moratorium in the cutting of trees in the city recently received by the DENR-CAR.
Pablo said that instead of answering the petition on tree-cutting freeze, they agreed instead to invite the petitioners led by environment preservation advocate Michael Bengwayan and other sectors to a dialogue.
Magalong said he encourages consultations as well to get the pulse of the people on the issues involving the city.
The mayor said the city is lining up projects that would address its pressing environmental problems among which garbage and sewage management and the dwindling water supply and imposing a freeze on buildings will help the city concentrate its efforts on these aspects.
Pablo said he is inclined to support the construction moratorium because of the city’s limited carrying capacity.
“Baka hindi na kaya,” he said.
Magalong was scheduled to meet with DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu last Tuesday and he said obtaining funds to jumpstart these environmental projects would be among the concerns he would tackle with the secretary.
The moratorium on the construction of high-rise buildings which was first broached during the Senate hearing on the creation of the Baguio-La-Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) Development Authority early this year has been the subject of debates in the city.
Moratorium advocates anchored their petition to the President on safety concerns citing the city’s susceptibility to earthquakes and the need for the city to have proper urban plan that will include “properly conducted and peer-reviewed soil investigation and testing reports for foundations of structures, performed by a licensed geotechnical engineer and that no structures will be constructed over the 8 stories limit specified by the City of Baguio.”
Former mayor Mauricio Domogan earlier said it is doable but would entail a whole new process of amending the Zoning Ordinance which had just been revised in 2016.
“If the issue is on the safety, I believe this had already been answered by experts who during the exhaustive consultations for the drafting of the City Land Use Plan, opined that the soundness of the structures does not depend on the height of the buildings but on ensuring their structural stability, which means compliance with the national building and safety codes including the soil test requirements. If the issue is overdevelopment necessitating suspension on high-rise buildings, then it has to go back to the city council, call back the experts and follow the process again,” he said. **Aileen P. Refuerzo
