12 outskirtS communities eyed as agricultural villages

BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — The city council recognized farming in 12 outskirts communities here in preparation for their declaration as agriculture villages, including an Ibaloy-Kankanaey settlement tending gardens within the Camp John forest reserve.

The council initiative allowed the city to access grants and subsidies for food producers, given that these farms might be Baguio’s alternative sources of food during calamities.

Vegetables and fruits, like strawberries, which are sold at the Baguio market, are grown in gardens carved out of a mountainside in nearby Benguet province.

The council action may have reversed a city policy that prevented the issuance of an agrarian reform title inside the Baguio dairy farm.

The city government at the time asserted that there were no agriculture lands in Baguio, as stipulated by its zoning ordinance, which prompted the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to withdraw certificates of land ownership award (Cloas) it had granted to an Ibaloy clan at the dairy farm.

The Cloas have triggered a dispute not only between DAR and the city government, but also with the Department of Agriculture, which controls the dairy farm reservation.

Last month, Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones said he was studying a proposal to grant Cloas to Barangay Happy Hallow inside Camp John Hay.

Primary activity

Happy Hallow, one of the villages that the council described as having “significant agricultural activities,” is Baguio’s only Ibaloy ancestral domain where farmers have been growing vegetables and cut flowers.

Happy Hallow identifies agriculture as its primary activity in its ancestral domain sustainable development and protection plan, a consolidation of programs to be undertaken by indigenous Filipinos to preserve their domain and their culture.

Among the villages recognized as food producers, Barangay Irisan has the most number of vegetable farmers at 357, according to a survey of the city veterinarian and agriculture office.

The villages of Santo Tomas Central and Santo Tomas Proper, which were marketed as new strawberry sources by the Baguio government in 2018, were also included, as well as Barangay Pinsao Proper and Pinsao Pilot Project, Camp 7 along Kennon Road, and Asin Road, which straddles Baguio and Tuba town in Benguet.

The city council also cited Barangay Dontogan, Lucnab, Pacdal and Ambiong for their farms and gardens.—Vincent Cabreza