Baguio braces for legal row over Burnham Park title

BAGUIO, Philippines – The Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) is reviewing the city’s recently acquired title for Burnham Park for potential contest, lawyer Brendan Quintos, legal officer of the Department of Tourism Cordillera (DOT-CAR), said on Monday, April 24.

According to Quintos, the TIEZA, the country’s administrator of national parks, was not advised of Baguio’s titling efforts before the title was awarded.

While Baguio has had full management and administrative control over Burnham Park since 2008, the TIEZA is insisting on its mandate over all national parks and is ready to contest the title in court once the review of the title is completed and contention is deemed necessary, Quintos said.

The main concern raised by the TIEZA is the validity and propriety of titling a government property established by a proclamation, according to Quintos.

He also added that the TIEZA wants to “retain its ownership” over the park.

According to Eugene Buyucan, chief of the General Services Office (GSO), the city acquired 18.2 hectares of the park not covered by the original Original Certificate of Title (OCT) No. 1, following the issuance of the OCT No. 2023000017 by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on March 3. This lot covers the picnic grove, skating rink, the parking area fronting Tiong San Harrison, the city environment and parks management extension office, the city library, Burnham Lake, the children’s park, Orchidarium, bicycle area, rose garden, Melvin Jones Grandstand, food stalls, the Igorot Garden, and Ibaloi Park.

Buyucan said that the acquisition of a title over areas within Burnham Park “does not intend to cancel” Proclamation no. 64, Series of 1925, which created the Burnham Park Reservation as the proclamation identifies the use of an area while a title indicates who owns it.

Baguio started working on titling all its city-owned and administered public properties in 2017, including parts of Burnham Park, in a bid to prevent private entities from acquiring them through townsite sales or land patents. These land titling initiatives were started by the former administration under then Mayor Mauricio Domogan and are being undertaken by the current administration.

Councilors Elmer Datuin and Mylen Yaranon warned of potential legal concerns over the titling of the affected lots stemming from the DOT and the TIEZA having authority over the park as early as March 8th, days after the city acquired its 18.2 hectare title.

After successfully acquiring a title for Burnham Lot 1, the city government is now pursuing the titling of Burnham Park Lot 6 which covers portions of the Public Swimming Pool and Lions Club and Pine Trees of the World with an area of 10,021 sqm. However, the looming possibility of TIEZA contention and legal problems have stalled the titling efforts.

The city government has been the administrator of Burnham Park since February 10, 1995 pursuant to Executive Order No. 244 issued by then President Fidel Ramos. Prior to this, the park was under the care of the Philippine Tourism Authority, which was then replaced by the TIEZA. – Rappler.com

Angel Castillo is an Aries Rufo Journalism fellow.