Baguio may waive fees for 14 John Hay villages to end double taxation
BAGUIO CITY—The city council here is considering a proposal to waive the fees collected from residents and businesses in 14 barangays located within the Camp John Hay reservation to prevent double taxation, according to a draft ordinance pending before the legislative body.
Double taxation has arisen due to similar fees being collected by the John Hay Management Corp., a subsidiary of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) that manages the 625-hectare reservation.
The council has yet to determine the amount of revenue the city government will forgo if it implements the temporary fee waiver.
The proposed measure covers building permits, occupancy permits, electrical permits, mechanical permits, plumbing permits, business permits and other regulatory clearances required for construction, development or business operations within the affected barangays.
“Nonetheless, residents are still required to secure the necessary permits to ensure public safety and effective monitoring of these structures,” the draft ordinance clarified.
The fee waiver, it added, would remain in effect until the 14 villages are officially segregated from the Camp John Hay reservation or until the overlapping collection of fees is resolved.
Complete control
Camp John Hay, like all former American military bases, is under the custody of the BCDA, which, last January, has also taken over its privately developed commercial areas previously controlled by developer Camp John Hay Development Corp.
In 2023, the Supreme Court affirmed the city government’s regulatory authority over businesses operating in John Hay’s commercial areas, provided these are not registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.
The business district falls under a special economic zone administered by the BCDA. But many businesses operating in the 14 barangays—including the Baguio Country Club village and the Ibaloy ancestral settlement in Barangay Loakan—are technically beyond the city’s regulatory scope until these communities are formally excluded from the BCDA’s control.
Conditions
The city’s jurisdiction over John Hay enterprises is among the 19 conditions outlined in City Resolution No. 362, which the city council passed in 1994 when it endorsed the conversion of the military base into a commercial area in the same year.
Condition No. 14 of Resolution No. 362 specifically requires the exclusion of the following John Hay barangays: Camp 7 (13,875 residents as of the 2020 census), Loakan-Apugan (2,906), Country Club Village (1,762), Lower Dagsian (1,521), Upper Dagsian (643), Greenwater (1,571), Hillside (1,549), Loakan-Liwanag (4,841), Loakan-Proper (12,006), Outlook Drive (2,237), Santa Escolastica (1,794) and Lucnab (2,206); Happy Hallow (2,674), which is also Baguio’s only Ibaloy ancestral domain; and Scout Barrio (1,329), which hosts families of former John Hay employees during the American occupation.
However, only Scout Barrio has been officially segregated through an executive order issued in 2001. The city council and its residents also asserted the process remained incomplete, as the BCDA retained control over Scout Barrio’s public spaces, including roads and a school.
Incomplete process
According to the draft ordinance authored by Councilor Paolo Salvosa, compliance with the conditions set by the city government remained incomplete due to ongoing negotiations between the city government and the BCDA over who should have jurisdiction over the 14 villages.
“To alleviate the burden of double payment and ensure equitable treatment of residents pending the resolution of the segregation issue and full compliance with the 19 conditionalities, it is necessary to temporarily waive the collection of fees for specified permits by the Baguio City Government for properties and residents in the affected barangays,” the draft ordinance said.
The city council has invited BCDA representatives to its Nov. 3 session to discuss the draft measure. But back channel negotiations between the city and the BCDA have been ongoing since June, after Mayor Benjamin Magalong requested the BCDA leadership to provide a categorical position on Resolution No. 362.
