Saturday, July 18, 2009 [ sunstar.com.ph ]
By Visha Calventas
THE residents affected by the demolition in Busol watershed have passed a position paper to the City Government and other offices concerned regarding the demolition issue.
Six hundred fifty-three residents signed the position paper asking the city to hold in abeyance the demolition in four barangays.
The signatories said that portions of the watershed are ancestral land claims of four clans, namely: Gumangan, Kalomis, Molintas, and Rafael.
The position paper specifically cited the case Carino vs Insular Government, which favored Mateo Carino and the Indigenous People’s Rights Acts of 1997. It also disclosed five arguments regarding the allegations residents are polluting the watershed.
The residents argued that they have been on the place earlier than the tapping of water connections; there is no intrusion on the water source because of the distance of the residential houses; they have never barred the Baguio Water District from conducting operations in the area; the water derived from the watershed is chlorinated and lastly; and they do not pollute the water which they also drink.
They also presented alternatives to the problem other than demolition.
These alternatives include fencing of all parts of the unoccupied upper portions of the Busol Forest Reservation, identifying and pinpointing the boundaries of the reservation, applying the National Integrated Protected Areas System Law, adopt a management where the local government unit (LGU) will manage the watershed and coordinate with the occupants of the Forest Reservation and to give the residents the chance to prove their claims.
Residents also proposed to protect the watershed, stop destruction and pollution, reforest the area, prevent grass and forest fires and to conduct Information and education drives regarding the importance of the watershed.
Demolition will push through
Despite the position paper, the City Government will still go on with the demolition as planned on Monday.
Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. told Sun.Star he offered three approaches to the demolition.
“First in, last out. Small ones first. Residential houses will be the last to be taken down,” Bautista said.
He explained the first settlers of the watershed will be the last ones to go out. The last one to enter the area will be the first one to go out. The second option is for practical reasons where small structures will be taken out first. The third option will be for humanitarian reasons.
“If someone is living in the house, we won’t demolish it,” Bautista said.
He added that piggeries, farms and other business establishments will be among the priorities to demolition.
Bautista said there will be no relocation sites for the displaced residents because they are not covered by the relocation law. He explained structures in watersheds, highways and roads are not covered by the law.
The watershed will be home to a Material Recovery Facility once the demolition is completed, the mayor disclosed.
Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on July 19, 2009.
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