Baguio awaits BCDA reply on city shares

BAGUIO CITY — The city government of Baguio has yet to receive an official response regarding its bid to collect P200 million from Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) over the operation of Camp John Hay Special Economic Zone (CJHSEZ).

Before the new set of Baguio officials took their oath on June 30, Mayor Benjamin Magalong dispatched letters on June 18 to BCDA informing its unpaid obligations of P56.8 million from the CJHSEZ’s gross income and P168.8 million from economic activities.

The letters were addressed to BCDA president and CEO Joshua Bingcang and John Hay Management Corp. president and CEO Manjit Singh Reandi.

In September last year, the city council has formed a special committee to suggest possible actions the city government will undertake to resolve the longstanding problems such as the “unfulfilled” 19 conditionalities, particularly the lack of implementation of the revenue-sharing agreement and the segregation of the 13 barangay within Camp John Hay.

Condition No. 9 mandates he BCDA to provide an equitable revenue-sharing arrangement, where the city government receives three percent of the gross income from operations within the JHSEZ.

Additionally, one percent be allocated to a community development fund jointly administered by the city government and BCDA. This means that the BCDA should allocate a total of four percent of the gross income from operations within the JHSEZ under Section 9 of Condition No. 9 in favor of Baguio City.

Meanwhile, sources said water scarcity is an increasing problem at Camp John Hay.

This after BCDA transferred the services to a different concessionaire yet the move backfired as the present provider has no technical knowledge on how to run the camp’s water flow system.Due to the alleged poor management and maintenance, John Hay has no choice but to ration water so as not to disrupt hotel and golf operations.