City Council to negotiate with GSIS over the acquisition of land

The Baguio City Council urged Mayor Benjamin Magalong to negotiate with the Government

Service Insurance System (GSIS) over the acquisition of the GSIS lot in front of the Baguio

Convention Center, including the parking lot on the left side of the building. The said petition

was to ensure that it will never be closed down by GSIS since these portions are part of their

property.

In a meeting with the GSIS during the council’s February 3 session, the city government

presented that the 10,000 square meter lot purchased by the City Government in 2012 did not include the part in front of the Baguio Convention Center.

“This is a concern because, well, truly we did acquire the Convention Center but how can we go to the Convention Center passing by a different or rather a lot not owned by the City yet. We would want to come up with a solution to this,” Councilor Isabelo B. Cosalan Jr. said.

The City Council suggested negotiating with GSIS through lease agreement, sale agreement, or swapping a portion of the purchased land in order to acquire the front and left side of the Convention Center.

“The lot acquired by the by the City would include the area occupied by the CHPG, Highway

Patrol Group and another possibility is, I do not know, but probably we can, if it is possible to do some swapping, maybe we can swap that area or if we can purchase that portion in front of the Convention Center from the GSIS,” Cosalan added.

GSIS Property Administration Department representative Florante Lomibao said that the road lot in front of the Convention Center can be used by both the City Government and the GSIS. However, GSIS Real Property Accounts Management Department Manager Danilo Martinez said that medium and big ticket accounts cannot be sold but can only be leased out.

“Ang present policy po ng GSIS right now… for the release of GSIS properties, wala po kaming sale for medium and big ticket accounts which means more than 10 million po, lahat po ‘yan kailangan short or long term lease lang po,” said Martinez.

The City Council will create a Technical Working Group through the City Mayor to identify the

specific boundaries to be renegotiated with GSIS.

In 2017, former Mayor Mauricio Domogan insisted on the immediate conduct of a joint survey with GSIS to know the exact measurement of the area purchased by the City Government of Baguio in order to prevent further complications for the future leaders of the city.

by Jaira Angelica Palpallatoc