Councilor seeks inventory of informal settlers in Baguio

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines - To properly identify the squatters in the city, Councilor Isabelo Cosalan Jr. said there should be a committee that would come up with a list of informal settlers in Baguio, either government or private properties. The inventory of informal settlers is for the categorization of settlers as well as to preserve reserved parcels of land as well as to protect titleholders whose properties have been encroached upon by settlers. Baguio has a total of 5,749 hectares. Fifty-four percent of this is reserved for residential and commercial purposes while the remaining 46 percent is designated either for institutional, parks, forest or watersheds, roads and school sites among others. With many of these open spaces undergoing conversion for commercial purposes or have been encroached upon by human settlers, Cosalan said remaining open spaces have to be maintained as for its intended use. "It is paramount to free these reservations and open spaces from human occupancy and all forms of structures and obstructions as a first step in the City Government's quest to maximize the use of public utilities as well as improve the ecological condition of the city," the councilor explained. - Sun.Star Baguio