(Originally published in the March 25-31, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---
a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---
by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)
THE Baguio-Benguet Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Association or CREBA said that the proposed updating of the Baguio Zoning Regulations “is welcomed as an opportunity for us, the city government together with the citizenry, to be better attuned to the times and responsive to our city’s needs”.
“We, from the housing sector are also bona fide residents of the city and we have our duty to assist in our most humble way whatever we could share for the physical and economic development of the city towards a safer and healthier environment,” the local CREBA said in a collective statement issued by its Chairman of the Board (Engr.) Tom Panis, chapter president (Engr.) Edwin Zamora, executive vice president Lorenzo Aguilar, Director (Atty.) Alexander Bangsoy, and former presidents Jane Cosalan and Felicidad Ronquillo.
The City Council’s Committee on Urban Planning, Lands and Housing recently wrapped up the consultations with various sectors on the draft updated Comprehensive Land-Use (CLUP) and Zoning Ordinance and is now finalizing its recommendations for submission to the City Development Council or CDC.
Meanwhile, Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan who heads the CDC which drafted the updated CLUP and Zoning Ordinance said the CDC is very receptive of the recommendations from the different sectors consulted on the proposed updated CLUP and Zoning Ordinance. He said there are provisions in the draft that needs changes for practical reasons such as limiting the number of storeys recommended for buildings in the city.
“Our challenge is to strike an appropriate balance in our controlling laws and regulations so that our response is properly placed in terms of guarded development that will not unduly deprive other sectors of the community but would truly mirror the desires and aspirations of all citizenry,” CREBA said.
“We have to be continually mindful that we do not blunder and cause stakeholders to relocate elsewhere (just) because they find our zoning laws too oppressive,” it added. “It will be a huge disservice if investors collectively brand Baguio as a hostile and anti-development’ under our zoning laws . . . it is on the above premise that that position paper of CREBA is presented, lest we be accused of a misunderstanding of the most basic tenets of planning and urban development.”
According to the local CREBA, the forecasted balance of housing backlog by 2020 of 13,082 units “needs and buildable space of more or less 12 hectares based on a house floor area of 70 square meters and a 30 percent provision for open spaces”.
Where do we get this large chunk of area in Baguio where almost all its areas are now occupied?
The local CREBA is proposing the following to be classified as possible housing areas: Green Valley up to Sto. Tomas’ City Limits, Irisan up to Lamtang’s City Limits, Leonila Hill, Ambiong (Baguio side), Camp 7 area (left of the Satellite Market), Tam-awan Quezon Hill, SLU Bakakeng area, Kitma Village, Chapis Village, Pucay Village, Crystal Cave area. In addition, CREBA is also suggesting to classify all areas one lot deep where the circumferential road passes (Balacbac area, Bakakeng CICM, Kadaklan, Happy Hallow, etc.) “as these areas will be the next growth areas in the city”.
The local CREBA is also proposing that the height regulations for buildings (in R3 zones) shall be increased to 12 storeys subject to the soil bearing capacities of the area. Besides, real estate values in the city has gone beyond imaginable levels that developing an area are based on the earning potentials or return of investment (ROI) by their legitimate owners and speculators alike, CREBA added. The ratio of developable areas should be based on Section 803 (Percentage of Site Occupancy) of the IRR of the National Building Code / PD 1096 which mandates a maximum buildable area of 85 percent for inside lots and 95 percent for through and corner lots located in business-mercantile, industrial and high-occupancy areas.
The group also lauded the inclusion of landscape regulations, more particularly for new buildings to include in their design adequate provision for rainwater capture for purposes of flushing, watering of plants, and cleaning.
“Lest we be misunderstood as protecting our own self-interest” the CREBA said it would like “to come up with affordable low-cost housing technologies and materials and ‘holistic’ housing designs, exploring other products and programs to reach a broader segment of the poor in need of housing assistance”.
The group said it also would like to undertake the ‘unbundling’ of the housing package or promote ‘semi-development’ to reduce the price of housing units “and make it more affordable to low-income earners”. It added it wants to develop better coordination with the different housing agencies “to adopt a more developmental and pro-poor framework to be able to reach more poor people”.
Meanwhile, Councilor Isabelo Cosalan, Jr. said the Committee on Urban Planning, Lands and Housing (which he chairs) wants to propose the inclusion of the following in the updated Comprehensive Land-Use (CLUP) and Zoning Ordinance:
· The need to look deeper into the overall direction of the development plans. As in the ‘vision’ and repeatedly emphasized in the ‘mission, goals, strategy, and overall policies’, ecological balance through sustainable enhancement and preservation of the environment to stabilize biodiversity, takes center stage. The physical land-use plan, however, says otherwise. For the next 10 or more years, the plan would be taking away more than 119 from 566.21 hectares of vacant forested areas or more than 21 percent of the existing forest land supposed to be ‘for greening purposes’. Add this to the already occupied portions of forest / water reservations, roads and creek / river easements and the city will end up with barely a space to breathe.
· The need to translate into clear, defined, and purposeful plan the proposed and adopted multi-nodal form of spatial development strategy where the particular field of specialization for the particular cluster is expressly articulated to serve as investment and development guides.
· The consideration of at last a 150year effectivity for the Baguio City Comprehensive Land-Use Plan to provide ample time for the realization of the vision-mission-goal statement.
The Committee on Urban Planning, Lands and Housing also want the adoption of the observations and recommendations forwarded by the various sectors consulted, e.g. the NEDA, the academe, the BLIST, the trade and industry, tourism, public safety and protection, social welfare services, health, infrastructure, and utilities, housing, and the indigenous people’s groups.*
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