BAGUIO CITY – City officials led by outgoing Mayor Mauricio Domogan and city department heads facilitated a briefing on the functions, programs and plans for Mayor-elect Benjamin Magalong and his incoming staff members last June 18, 2019 at the Holiday Inn.
Domogan presented the overall state of the city’s projects and programs and requested Magalong to continue pursuing crucial ones like the updating of the city’s real property and business taxes and pending infrastructure and social services projects.
He also asked that the city’s legal fight to reclaim lots that were issued spurious ancestral land titles be continued and the city’s stand against illegitimate ancestral land claims be sustained.
The mayor also assured Magalong of his readiness to extend help wherever and whenever needed.
“We will be behind you even when we go back to my private law practice so that if ever you want us, we will make ourselves available because this is our city,” he told Magalong.
During the sessions that lasted until 10 p.m., Magalong pored through the information and scrutinized the data presented by each of the 19 department heads.
He alternately solicited and offered suggestions on various issues and concerns and made clear his intention for a work-oriented and proactive administration.
Some of the salient points discussed:
Magalong raised the possibility of integrating all the city’s digital maps like the geographical information system and other related maps and at the same time enhance the knowledge and skills of concerned offices to maximize the use of said data instruments;
On the city’s dwindling open spaces, the scrapping of variance or exemptions from the city’s zoning ordinance to ensure compliance with the Comprehensive Land Use Plan was brought up;
The adoption of new tax measures to upgrade the outdated schedule of real property market values and the business tax ordinance will be prioritized;
The city market development direction will be based on the certainty of Uniwide company’s dissolution;
The setting up of an integrated command center and provision of free wifi services will be pursued with pledges from concerned national government offices;
Feasibility studies on the setting up of transport terminals and parking buildings to be prioritized;
Due process will be observed in dealing with buildings identified to be within the prohibited zones;
The city’s response to the plan of the Dept. of Tourism to take back the control over Burnham Park will be studied;
The timeline for the upgrading and expansion of the sewerage treatment plant and to resolve complaints on the Roadside Inspection, Testing and Monitoring Team (RITMT); and
The odor emanating from the Irisan controlled facility and the transfer station should be addressed immediately and all of the pending solid waste management projects should continue to be pursued.
By Aileen P. Refuerzo
BRIEFING PROGRAM FOR THE NEW ADMINISTRATION – City officials led by outgoing Mayor Mauricio Domogan and city department heads facilitate a briefing on each department’s functions, programs and plans for Mayor-elect Benjamin Magalong and his staff members last June 18, 2019 at the Holiday Inn. AILEEN P. REFUERZO, 06/23/19