Manila: Returning Baguio City Rep. Mauricio Domogan said Tuesday correcting the "legal infirmities" of the city's current charter will be his top legislative agenda in his first 100 days in office. "We will file the necessary bill in Congress to correct the legal infirmities of the city charter," Domogan said in a phone interview.
According to Philippines News Agency, Republic Act (RA) 11689 or the Act Revising the Charter of the City of Baguio lapsed into law in April 2022 but was later found to have provisions that do not apply to the city. Among the provisions that need to be revised, according to Domogan, is the one requiring the secretary of the city council to furnish the Benguet Provincial Board with copies of approved measures for its ratification. "This provision applies to component cities, not highly urbanized cities like Baguio," said Domogan, who has served the city as councilor, vice mayor, and mayor. He was first elected to Congress in 1998.
He said he also wants to include a provision mandating the segregation of the villages in Camp John Hay as contained in the 19 conditions imposed by the city government in 1994 when it gave the go-signal for the development of the former American rest-and-recreation facility. He likewise wants the townsite sales application (TSA) as a mode of disposal of alienable and disposable lands in the city to be replaced by the much simpler miscellaneous sales application (MSA) to avoid the possible displacement of qualified home-lot applicants who have long been occupying these lands.
Domogan said through this process, qualified home-lot applicants would be directly awarded the lands that they have occupied for a certain period of time after payment of the prescribed amount fixed by the law. In case of disputes, he said, the bidding would be confined to those involved in the dispute so that only those qualified would be awarded the property. In the current process, an applicant of an alienable and disposable land may lose in the bidding process, and the property could be awarded to other bidders despite the long period of possession of the real property due to the reality that the person with more money can outbid the applicant.
Domogan urged Baguio City's officials and residents to assist him by bringing him ideas that need to be done through legislation in Congress. "We will work with everyone. We will listen and we will ensure the city's representation in the House of Representatives," he said.
