CITING more errors in the modern Baguio City charter under Republic Act 11689, the Baguio City Council has petitioned the Senate and House of Representatives to allow access to their records to determine how “gross errors” made their way into the charter.
One such provision in RA 11689 that the council is citing is a provision in the new Baguio City Charter that requires the city to transmit all its ordinances and resolutions to the provincial board of Benguet for confirmation.
According to Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan, requiring the city to transmit all its ordinances to the Benguet provincial board downgrades the city’s status to component city, and allows the provincial board the power to veto ordinances made in the city.
Another concern the council had raised as early as 2022 was that the Camp John Hay reservation was excluded from Baguio’s Townsite Reservation, allowing the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) leeway to not comply with the city’s 19 conditions demanded for the camp’s continued operation.
Yet another concern is the lack of a fixed boundary delineating the city’s borders.
The council has invited members of the Senate and House secretariats to a closed-door meeting of elected officials and legal experts, to include the charter’s chief sponsor, Baguio Rep. Marquez Go.
The group would discuss the needed amendments to the law “before the errors affect the operations of the summer capital,” said Olowan.
