Domogan: “Compel BCDA to comply with 19 conditions on Camp John Hay dev’t”

Lone District of Baguio City Representative Mauricio G. Domogan said the Bases Conversion Development Authority must have no other choice but to comply with 19 conditionalities contained in Resolution 362, Series of 1994, on the development of Camp John Hay.

Asked for a reaction on City Mayor Benjamin Magalong’s “demand” for a clear-cut action regarding the conditions stated in his letter to BCDA last June 2025, Domogan said the city government should have instead been asserting its rights over John Hay, which includes its rightful shares from the operations within the former American military reservation.

“The stand of the City Government of Baguio must be a demand for the BCDA to comply with the 19 conditions because, with all due respect, in the letter, it seems like we are giving the BCDA a choice to comply or not. That is a right of the city; we should demand compliance. That is why this should be the direction, and this should be the stand of the city government,” the Baguio congressman said.

Domogan said at this point, Baguio leaders should be “collectively united” in demanding the implementation of the 19 conditions, specifically Conditions Nos. 1, 14, and 16.

Condition No. 1 provides that the share of Baguio City from the revenue of CJH is 25 percent of the lease rental or 30 percent of the net profit from the operation, whichever is higher during the period of the lease contract.

After the expiration of the contract, which the Supreme Court in its 2024 ruling declared had expired, Condition 16 provides that the 247 hectares, which are the subject of the contract of lease, shall be turned over to the city government without obligation for the city to pay the value of improvements existing on the said property.

Condition 14, on the other hand, refers to the segregation of barangays within the CJH.

“We have Resolution 362, Series of 1994. All that we have to do is for the leaders of the city to be united in demanding that BCDA comply with the said conditionalities,” Domogan said.

He reiterated the validity of the 19 conditions, as cited by the Supreme Court in most of its rulings concerning John Hay. The Office of the Government Corporate Counsel also issued an opinion that the 19 conditions are valid. Moreover, BCDA itself passed a resolution unanimously approving the city’s conditions and made moves to implement some of the conditions in the past.

“On that score alone, there is already a meeting of the minds, and in fairness to BCDA, it implemented some of the 19 conditionalities implementable at that time. How? In its master plan, BCDA followed the conditions. They complied with condition 1, where the Baguio City Building Official has the authority to issue building permits to businesses within John Hay. BCDA was also emitting the city’s share from the lease rentals, that is why the city was able to collect around P300 million as its share before, and part of it was used in paying GSIS to acquire the one-hectare area, including the Baguio Convention Center, now absolutely owned by the city government.

The legal basis that justifies the payment of the amount is Resolution 362. That is why BCDA cannot say it has no contract with the city, as what its previous leaders claimed before,” Domogan said.

BCDA has also made efforts to segregate the 13 barangays surrounding John Hay, and even appropriated P2.4 million for the conduct of a segregation survey. Still, the same did not push through due to opposition from residents of Happy Hollow and Loakan barangays.

Domogan added that he is willing to testify in court if BCDA does not honor the conditions regarding John Hay.

“In this case, the next move of the City Government of Baguio is to file the appropriate action in court to compel BCDA to comply with the 19 conditionalities and let the court decide. Wala e, hindi tayo nagkakasundo, so let the court decide. This must be resolved once and for all, so that both parties can state and argue their claims respectively, and I, for Baguio City, am willing to testify,” he said. * # (PR)