Baguio authorities helpless against squatting problem?

BAGUIO CITY — It has been reaping honors, both national and international, but Baguio’s award-winning "Eco-Walk" program has failed to accomplish one of its core missions — contain, if not eradicate, squatting around the city’s main groundwater resource.

In a forum last week to celebrate the 14th anniversary of the Baguio Regreening Movement (BRM), it was revealed that close to a thousand squatters now live in the area which straddles the city and nearby La Trinidad, the capital town of Benguet.

Mayor Bernardo Vergara and Baguio Rep. Mauricio Domogan took turns explaining the problem of rooting out the squatters. But callers to the live broadcast blamed the "lack of political will," among other reasons, for the continued "invasion" in the watershed.

According to the two officials, the local courts have compounded the problem by issuing orders restraining demolitions, although Domogan said claimants cannot be faulted for "selling" what they claim to be their land.

This, even as the area in the city’s northern boundary was declared a forest reserve as early as 1921.

Squatters’ dwellings now nearly obstruct the entrance to the forested area, with a concrete, two-story building standing bravely, if proudly, to the right of the entrance.

Former prosecutor Erdolfo Balajadia, a member of the Busol Task Force which has yet to set up its office at the watershed, announced for the nth time plans to fence off the area, with funds pledged by various sectors, including Domogan’s P2.5-million Countrywide Development Fund (CDF).

Mediaman Willy Cacdac lamented that the Busol watershed used to produce so much gallons of water per minute but this has since dwindled, thus resulting in dry faucets in summer.

President Arroyo earlier even ordered cloud-seeding to force rain during summer to replenish the city’s aquifers. This, as an Australian loan which the Baguio Water District had obtained to install additional wells — for which city residents are now paying with higher water fees — has failed to fill this summer capital’s growing water requirements.

Despite the problem, the city government, however, has somehow failed to come up with a policy against squatting.

Even visitors have noticed the rape of Baguio’s forests, Domogan admitted, recalling that Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Villar, wife of Sen. Manuel Villar, recently approached him to say she was contributing a portion of her CDF for the reforestation of the city’s shanty-dotted mountains.