Dads want city public hearing on charter change
Posted on | Sunday, 3 April 2011 | No Comments
by Aileen Refuerzo
BAGUIO CITY, April 2 – The city council wants the Senate Committee on Local Government to conduct a public hearing in the city on Senate Bill No. 3759 or An Act Revising the City Charter of Baguio.
In Resolution No. 89, the body agreed to request the Senate committee to hold the hearing here to feel the pulse of the Baguio people on the current bill refiled before the Congress by Rep. Bernardo Vergara.
Mayor Mauricio Domogan who originally authored the bill during his term as representative said the public hearing proceedings should be hastened considering the time constraints.
“We hope that they can rush and finish all that was needed to do so we can collate all the amendments and inputs and submit the same to the Senate,” the mayor said.
The mayor was worried the charter revision matter will again be set aside when the Senate begins hearing the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.
“I hope they will still find time to pursue our cause to finally approve the long overdue amendment of the city charter,” he said.
The Senate committee chaired by Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier conducted a public hearing on the bill at the Senate building in Pasay City. The committee collated the inputs gathered during the hearing for incorporation in the final draft.
The present bill is the city’s third crack at amending its age-old charter after two attempts during the term of Domogan proved unsuccessful.
Vergara revived the bill and refiled the same with the Lower House adopting the exact contents of the original proposal. The bill was approved in the Lower House and is now being tackled by the Senate.
The city’s charter has remained unchanged since it was written by Justice George Malcolm in 1909. The Charter even pre-dates the 1935 Constitution and has not yet been revised since its enactment so that almost all of its provisions have become obsolete and irrelevant.
Domogan earlier described his bill as a “mixed marriage of provision of Republic Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 and the provisions of the 1909 City Charter, as amended by the Revised Administrative Code of 1917 and of Presidential Proclamations.”
He said the bill “is expected to settle once and for all the jurisdictional boundary conflict between the City of Baguio and the town of Tuba in Benguet.”
Among the proposals under the bill are the following: the alienable and disposable public lands in the city known as the Baguio Townsite Reservation be titled in its name so that it can exert its power and authority to implement its approved land use and development plan; the issue of ownership over said townsite reservation be speedily settled in favor of qualified occupants/applicants which will likewise address the problems of squatting.
The bill, according to the mayor also seeks “to institutionalize the payment of the national government of its contribution to the administrative expenses of the city of Baguio pursuant to the provision of Republic Act No. 4708.”
Furthermore, the proposed revision “treats on the improvement of the restructuring and reorganization of the offices of the city government with the creation of valid positions relevant to the present and future needs of the city.” – (AR,Baguio City PIO//PIA CAR A Refuerzo
BAGUIO CITY, April 2 – The city council wants the Senate Committee on Local Government to conduct a public hearing in the city on Senate Bill No. 3759 or An Act Revising the City Charter of Baguio.
In Resolution No. 89, the body agreed to request the Senate committee to hold the hearing here to feel the pulse of the Baguio people on the current bill refiled before the Congress by Rep. Bernardo Vergara.
Mayor Mauricio Domogan who originally authored the bill during his term as representative said the public hearing proceedings should be hastened considering the time constraints.
“We hope that they can rush and finish all that was needed to do so we can collate all the amendments and inputs and submit the same to the Senate,” the mayor said.
The mayor was worried the charter revision matter will again be set aside when the Senate begins hearing the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.
“I hope they will still find time to pursue our cause to finally approve the long overdue amendment of the city charter,” he said.
The Senate committee chaired by Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier conducted a public hearing on the bill at the Senate building in Pasay City. The committee collated the inputs gathered during the hearing for incorporation in the final draft.
The present bill is the city’s third crack at amending its age-old charter after two attempts during the term of Domogan proved unsuccessful.
Vergara revived the bill and refiled the same with the Lower House adopting the exact contents of the original proposal. The bill was approved in the Lower House and is now being tackled by the Senate.
The city’s charter has remained unchanged since it was written by Justice George Malcolm in 1909. The Charter even pre-dates the 1935 Constitution and has not yet been revised since its enactment so that almost all of its provisions have become obsolete and irrelevant.
Domogan earlier described his bill as a “mixed marriage of provision of Republic Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 and the provisions of the 1909 City Charter, as amended by the Revised Administrative Code of 1917 and of Presidential Proclamations.”
He said the bill “is expected to settle once and for all the jurisdictional boundary conflict between the City of Baguio and the town of Tuba in Benguet.”
Among the proposals under the bill are the following: the alienable and disposable public lands in the city known as the Baguio Townsite Reservation be titled in its name so that it can exert its power and authority to implement its approved land use and development plan; the issue of ownership over said townsite reservation be speedily settled in favor of qualified occupants/applicants which will likewise address the problems of squatting.
The bill, according to the mayor also seeks “to institutionalize the payment of the national government of its contribution to the administrative expenses of the city of Baguio pursuant to the provision of Republic Act No. 4708.”
Furthermore, the proposed revision “treats on the improvement of the restructuring and reorganization of the offices of the city government with the creation of valid positions relevant to the present and future needs of the city.” – (AR,Baguio City PIO//PIA CAR A Refuerzo
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Baguio City
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