By Joel B. Belinan
Watching the recent couple of leaders’ forums where candidates were given the opportunity to articulate their respective platforms of government showed the big gap between “comebacking” Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan over his two rivals. A former mayor and former congressman, Domogan has a very clear understanding and knowledge of issues and problems that are hounding the city of Baguio. Domogan, during the Leaders Forum held at the Baguio Country Club, clashed with incumbent Mayor Benjamin Magalong who is running for reelection, and Atty. Edison Bilog. In that forum, Domogan again proved his debating prowess known in the House of Representatives when he was our congressman from 2001 to 2010.
Rather than just uttering motherhood rhetoric, Domogan was very direct on how he intends to address the problems once he returns as the city’s chief executive. As have been in the past, the main subjects of discussion during the forum ranged from the environmental issues, Covid Pandemic response, public market development, local governance, and the accessibility of City Hall to the public among others. In all these issues, Domogan may have taught his two rivals a lesson on how to debate. Not just due to his mastery of the issues but due to the very fact that he had already done almost all the solutions being said to address those issues. As put by a netizen watching the live streaming of the forum, Magalong and Bilog looked like students trying to argue against their professor (Domogan).
Domogan’s very sharp memory of local and national laws relative to issues made the audience admire him even more. This was very evident when the issue on the 19-point conditions passed by the City Council in the 90’s over the development of Camp John Hay when Mayor Magalong said that the same was a one-sided resolution as it was not approved by the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA). Domogan however corrected Magalong’s statement saying that the 19point conditionalities of the city has been unanimously approved by the BCDA Board which was the very basis of the 25% share of the city from the rentals being paid by the developer. The 25% share of the city remitted by the BCDA to the city government was the initial payment by the City to the GSIS for the purchase of the Baguio Convention City. He reminded everyone that the Baguio Convention Center is now fully owned by the city as it was purchased by the city during his time. Moreover, after 50 years as stipulated in the lease contract, all the developments in the CJH area would become the property of the city. Furthermore, it is in the 19 point conditions that it provides for the segregation of the 14 barangays from the CJH reservation. These 14 barangays are those around CJH within the CJH reservation and need to be segregated in order for residents to finally apply and get a title over the lots they are occupying. To date only Scout Barrio barangay has been segregated.
Addressing the overused issue of urban decay, particularly over the presence of informal settlers within the watershed areas and the encroachment of structures on national roads, he said that it is the bounden duty of every leader to implement the law. However, the process of implementation should be humanized adding that while we address the issue of urban decay it is even more important to address the issue of human decay. We are dealing with people here and we cannot just neglect this fact. To address this, he said, under his watch, the search for lands where socialized housing can be built was a priority program. We were not just looking within the city but even in the adjoining municipalities where we can buy lots for this purpose, he said.
Domogan again repeated that kind of performance when he squared off with Magalong during the forum this week called “Conversation on Autonomy”. The forum was supposed to include other candidates from other Cordillera provinces but ended up with Domogan and Magalong as the only ones answering questions from prepared questionnaires by the various committees of the Regional Development Council (RDC). As expected, Domogan by far showed his very deep knowledge on the autonomy issue not only on the proposed bill that is still pending in Congress but also on the history of Autonomy. While Magalong resorted to his oft repeated good governance rhetoric and his so-called Local Government Transformation, Domogan was very clear on his stand on the autonomy issues and how he intends to continue his advocacy for the attainment of Cordillera Autonomy. At one point, Magalong in his effort to drive his point said ” Nakakalungkot lang na dito sa Cordillera, we always refer to elders, we always refer to elders (repeating it), Tama na yun, their life has passed.” This particular part then found its way to the social media that angered countless netizens.
Domogan on his part insists that autonomy is the future of the Cordillera, a means for the region to catch up in its development from decades of neglect by the national government, at the same time giving us the opportunity to have control over our natural resources, determine our future, for our children and their children. **
PS: My Korean friend Sung Am Cha, we just call him Master Cha, arrived in the city last Thursday dawn together with his friend Cha Hyeong Taek, Chief Executive Officer of CNK Int’l, Limited. Master Cha and I have known each other since 10 years ago. Basically we’ve met primarily because of our common interest in Boxing and other combative sports but later on we started to discover each other’s interest on other aspects of life where, at times, we spend hours and hours sharing thoughts on issues and experiences in life. This time though Master Cha and Mr. Domogan show the way.**
