BAGUIO CITY — Concerned national government agencies, local government units, and private developers are still bullish relative to the bright prospective of this mountain resort city’s lucrative housing industry despite the contrasting reports on the eminent dangers posed by landslides in almost 90 percent of the city’s 49-square kilometer land area.

After the onslaught of typhoon Ondoy in Metro Manila and Central Luzon which saw thousands of structures flooded, local housing developers have started to realize a 10-15 percent increase in their buyers due to the shift of the people from lowland housing to elevated areas to prevent people from suffering heavy losses in lives and damage to properties in the future.

Contrary to earlier reports that 90 percent of the city’s land area are considered to be landslide-prone, officials of the Cordillera office of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) pointed out the same is not complete since this mountain resort city is still a safe haven for inhabitants provided appropriate engineering measures will be adopted by the developers for the structures to be built for the security of the occupants.

Because of the existence of numerous landslide-prone areas in the different parts of the city, Councilor Isabelo Cosalan Jr., chairman of the city council committee on housing, urban planning and land use, explained the city government has imposed stringent regulations in the issuance of building permits to proposed residential and commercial buildings so that they will comply with the required geohazard assessment of the proposed site to be developed and that plans and specifications of the structures shall incorporate the appropriate mitigating measures to counter the effects of the hazards of the place.

Lawyer Alexander L. Bangsoy, a well-known housing developer in Baguio and Benguet, explained the increase in the number of their buyers even with the onslaught of Typhoon Pepeng that devastated some parts of the city is an indication that the city’s tourism, housing and business potentials could be realized since they are closely complying with whatever regulations promulgated by national and local government offices for the protection of their buyers since housing is not totally business but it also involves social concern for the people.

In fact, he disclosed it takes a developer at least two years before it could get the required development permit from the host local government as well as the license to sell from the Housing, Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), thus, they are the ones who are greatly prejudiced by such tedious process in securing the requirements for the put up of housing projects in Baguio and Benguet. (Dexter A. See)