BAGUIO CITY, Philippines?Businessmen are moving heaven and earth to downplay an old geological report detailing the summer capital?s vulnerability to erosion.

Debates about the city?s stability resurfaced last week after four landslides, triggered by rains brought by Typhoon ?Pepeng,? killed 24 people on Oct. 8.

But real estate developers told a news briefing on Wednesday that the old geological report had not affected business because property development projects had already began exploring the potentials of neighboring Tuba and Itogon towns in Benguet.

A study commissioned by a condominium developer indicated that 49 percent of Baguio lands were already built-up, making the city an oversaturated market.

Instead, the study urged development in Tuba, which is twice the size of Baguio, and in Itogon, which is three times bigger.

1990 study

The news briefing was called by Councilor Isabelo Cosalan Jr. to address TV reports that 90 percent of Baguio was ?landslide-prone.? The reports referred to a 1990 study issued in the aftermath of the Luzon earthquake that devastated Baguio and featured traces of fault lines and ground waterways that crisscross the surface of Baguio.

The ground lines render the summer capital vulnerable to erosions, according to documents of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).

Because of the study, Baguio briefly imposed a policy setting building height at only four stories.

But City Hall approved the construction of new buildings of up to 12 stories, according to the city environment office.

Cosalan said developers had addressed the potential hazards by using technology allowing them to offer safe and affordable housing.

?Baguio remains safe,? he said.

Congested

However, developers already discovered that the huge population and volume of settlements had also breached the city?s carrying capacity.

Baguio, which turned 100 years old on Sept. 1, was designed for a community of 25,000, but it now hosts a population of more than 300,000.

Cost of development is also rising, according to condominium developer Alexander Bangsoy.

Residents can afford to finance or mortgage property if they are allowed to pay from P5,000 to P8,000 in monthly amortization, he said.

But Bangsoy said permit fees and land development expenses represented an additional P800 to P1,200 for each square meter of processed land that must be passed onto buyers.

However, cheaper lots are available in areas not more than an hour?s travel away from downtown, he said.

Available space

Only 3 percent of Tuba is built-up, while only 7 percent of Itogon, a mining town, has been exploited.

Both have been cited as potential suburbs for Baguio by European experts that drew up the Baguio-Dagupan Urban Planning Project (BDUPP).

The project was not implemented though it was supposed to guide the restoration of cities devastated by the 1990 quake.

Heeding the study, developers have invested in new Benguet projects.

Bangsoy, president of Goshen Land Capital, said he developed properties on the outskirts, as well as in neighboring La Trinidad town ?to help decongest the city.?

Cosalan said the Benguet towns could also provide much-needed relocation sites for communities on danger zones.

The MGB issued new warnings, reminding Baguio about potential slides in five barangays, which were spared by the recent typhoons.

The city, however, continues to draw the interest of property owners outside, Bangsoy said.

?It is still different when you say you own land in Baguio, but we have to learn to adjust our needs now. It shouldn?t matter if your house is an hour away [from downtown Baguio] because soon it would not matter,? he said.

For buyers who are still bent on acquiring Baguio property, high-rise apartments or condominiums may be the only viable product open, Bangsoy said. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon