Baguio tourism sector supports advance of Consti changes

BAGUIO CITY — Baguio’s tourism sector promised support for advances in the move to amend the 1987 Constitution.

Gladys Vergara, chief of the Baguio Tourism Council (BTC) pledged the tourism sector’s assistance in advancing charter change as outlined by Baguio City Mayor Magalong. 

Baguio City on Thursday hosted a Constitutional Convention (ConCon) forum at the Baguio Convention Center, where city officials and public-private stakeholders led discussions on critical issues. 

Magalong emphasized the need to change the 1987 Constitution, rallying support from barangay heads.

Proposed changes being pushed in Baguio City include provisions related to local government autonomy, governance, deregulation of national control and the dispersal of development from urban to rural sectors.

Charter change advocates, including the Pilipino Tayo Movement lead convenor Greco Belgica, present in Thursday’s consultation profusely posed the urgent need for changes in the Constitution.

Attendees include 127 Punong Barangays, Vergara, Baguio City People’s Council head Marlene de Castro, among other advocates.

Vergara highlights the importance of effective decentralization.

 “Governance deserves to be freed from national control to spur development more quickly, rather than being stymied by bureaucratic oversight,” she stressed.