After 103 years, Baguio will soon have a revised City Charter after the Senate approved on third and final reading a bill to its effect and forwarded same to President Rodrigo Duterte for his approval.
House Bill 8882 was authored by Baguio Rep. Mark Go that aims to amend the Charter of Baguio that took effect on September 1, 1909. In filing the bill, Go noted that the city’s social, economic, and political environment of Baguio has drastically changed 110 years since.
He then thanked Sen. Francis Tolentino, chair of the Senate Committee on Local Government for HB 8882 that amends the charter authored by Justice George Malcolm.
Go said: “We thank our dear colleague for his consideration, support, and invaluable inputs that would enable our city to achieve its developmental goals along with the preservation of its culture and environment.”
There were previous attempts to revise the city’s charter. It was however during the second term of Go that the “technical teams from both House of Representatives and Senate have intensely collaborated with government agencies and stakeholders to ensure a comprehensive bill where the issues raised in the President’s veto message in 2013 were appropriately addressed.”
Go said the “revised charter is an embodiment of objectives, core values, policies, structure, rules, procedures, and provisions that do not exist in our current charter to attain effectiveness in local governance.”
Go said that once signed into law, the “charter will enable our city’s continuous growth in the midst of these dynamic times and be able to respond to the multitude of issues and growing concerns brought about by urbanization and development.”
Tolentino in a letter to Go after forwarding the bill to Malacanang said the city’s revised charter “will be the template for future city charters.”
Go added: “I hope that this measure will accelerate the road for Baguio City to truly become the paradigm of a resilient, sustainable, inclusive, and livable city in the Philippines.”
