The implementation of the Farm-to-Market Road (FMR) project at Happy Hallow Barangay remains uncertain as the dispute between the barangay and John Hay Management Corporation (JHMC) continues.
In a letter addressed to Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan, JHMC President and CEO Allan Garcia expressed his “vehement” opposition to the proposed project, claiming it would condone illegal activities in the area.
In his letter, Garcia assailed Joselito Dizon, a resident of Happy Hallow Barangay and a representative of the Council of Elders, for having initiated the development of a makeshift road and other illegal activities which allegedly caused destruction to the environment. He claimed these “illegal activities” may lead to irreversible damage of the watershed area within the Camp John Hay Reservation.
The implementation of the proposed project would legitimize Dizon’s illegal activities in the area, according to Garcia.
“Indeed, JHMC, as the administrator of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), has always been supportive of government projects for the benefit of communities. However, if these government projects are being used or exploited by unscrupulous individuals such as Mr. Dizon, JHMC could not stay silent and passive to a mockery of our laws and the alarming destruction of the environment,” Garcia wrote.
Garcia’s letter was a response to a resolution passed by the city council in 2021 requesting the JHMC and BCDA to allow the implementation of the proposed FMR project.
During the council session on September 20, 2021, JHMC Lot Manager Ferdinand Figuerres showed documents to the council indicating that these developments were not granted the necessary permits. Hence, Dizon was issued a cease and desist order and a notice of violation. Consequently, he was ordered to demolish the structure and to pay P10,000.00 as an administrative fine.
According to the results of the inspection presented by Figuerres to the city council, the construction of the makeshift road situated within the Camp John Hay forest watershed reservation had caused massive soil erosion and the collapse of live pine trees.
A massive structure supposedly for egg production near the makeshift road, according to Figuerres, had also led to the felling of more pine trees.
Dizon asserted that Happy Hallow Barangay is an ancestral domain; and as such, the residents thereat are authorized to undertake developments.
Dizon denied the claim that the construction of the communal road and the agricultural structure had caused soil erosion. He said the community had asked consent for the construction of a retaining wall to protect the mountainside along the road, but the JHMC rejected the proposal.
Contrary to the claim of the JHMC that the “dirt road” did not exist until 2017, Dizon insisted that it had long been there since the American period. It used to be a bridle path, he said, but it had been widened and concretized to allow vehicles to pass through.
He said the realization of the FMR project would boost the active participation of the community in addressing food security not only in the locality but also in nearby provinces.
The said project, which is supposed to be undertaken by the Department of Works and Highways-Baguio City District Engineering Office (DPWH-BCDEO), is aimed at expediting the mobilization of the residents’ farm produce to the market center, thus enhancing the agricultural activities in the area.
Barangay officials claimed that the construction of an FMR would provide convenience to the residents when traveling from home to their workplaces and vice versa as well as make emergency response easier.
The Department of Agriculture-Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-CAR) has allocated an amount of P12,500,000.00 for the FMR project which has been downloaded to the DPWH-BCDEO for implementation.
During the council session last Monday, Punong Barangay Joseph Sacley disclosed that the fund would revert to the DA if the project is not implemented until June 2022.
Sacley said the barangay proposed to relocate the project to another area but was yet again rejected by the BCDA and JHMC. He said they again proposed to relocate it to another area, pending the approval of the BCDA and JHMC. The new proposed area is the path leading to the Happy Hallow National High School.
Segregation of 13 barangays raised
Happy Hallow is one of the 13 barangays situated within the John Hay Reservation.
Sacley thanked the city council for their continuous efforts in lobbying for the segregation of these 13 barangays in relation to the revision of the 1909 Baguio City Charter.
The segregation of the 13 barangays is one of the conditions that must be complied with by the BCDA and JHMC which was imposed by the city government in 1994 through Council Resolution 362-1994.
The city government has been reminding the BCDA and JHMC about this condition for years. However, up until now, the 13 barangays remain unsegregated, causing disputes between the concerned barangays and the JHMC management.**Jordan G. Habbiling
