Baguio asks for full audit of John Hay structures, profits
BAGUIO CITY—The city council on Monday called for a full audit of the operations of Camp John Hay as it pressed the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to disclose a new master plan that would guide the future of the former American recreational base land.
The council unanimously passed a resolution urging the city government to assess the BCDA’s compliance with 19 local conditions that it agreed to undertake in 1994 in exchange for Baguio’s endorsement of the original Master Development Plan that paved the way for the commercialization of Camp John Hay.
A second resolution, which also passed unanimously, asks the BCDA, the administrator of all former base lands, to submit the new Camp John Hay plans.
Following a contentious 12-year contractual dispute with Camp John Hay developer Robert John Sobrepeña that was resolved by the Supreme Court in 2024, the BCDA commissioned a new master plan for the still undeveloped areas of the former John Hay Air Station.
“Baguio is entitled to review the new master plan based on the Local Government Code (Republic Act No. 7160),” said the resolutions’ sponsor, human rights lawyer and Councilor Jose Molintas.
Formal transmission
The measure reiterates City Resolution No. 898, series of 2025, issued in December, which directs the BCDA and its estate manager, the John Hay Management Corp. (JHMC), to formally transmit the new plans so they can be studied, reviewed, and given the city’s concurrence, as mandated by RA 7160 for all local governments.
Councilor Leandro Yangot, a former JHMC director, said the city government has not received any response from the BCDA in the past three months.
Molintas expressed the city government’s concern that new investments being secured for Camp John Hay may have bypassed Baguio’s review.
The second resolution also directs City Hall offices, including the planning and budget departments, to conduct a comprehensive audit of John Hay’s building properties, commercial operations, and revenues to determine whether the BCDA has complied with Baguio’s conditions.
Among these conditions are the exclusion of 14 barangays located within Camp John Hay, a prohibition on gambling, and respect for the rights of Baguio Ibaloys who were granted ancestral land titles in the area by the government.
Baguio is also seeking to collect debts from the BCDA amounting to about P200 million in gross revenue shares and rental shares paid by Sobrepeña’s Camp John Hay Development Corp., which won the 25-year development lease in 1996 to transform the area into a commercial and tourism hub.
