BAGUIO CITY — Despite the existence of a Supreme Court (SC) resolution ordering the demolition of hundreds of illegal structures within this mountain resort city’s premier watershed, the city government recently found that there are hundreds of new illegal structures which are being constructed within the Busol watershed, the premier source of water for most parts of the city and nearby La Trinidad, Benguet.

The discovery of the new constructions was made after the conduct of a joint survey by the Busol watershed task force, city building and architecture office, and the city mayor’s office’s public order and safety division within the reservation.

The task force found out that there are 455 structures actually built within the metes and bounds of the forest and watershed reservation and the same are said to be without the required building permits from the local government.

Out of the 30 existing injunction orders involving the 455 illegal structures within the reservation, 29 were already issued restraining orders by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) while one injunction was issued by a local court.

The task force reported there were some owners who were able to get injunctions from the NCIP despite the absence of appropriate demolition orders from the city government for the removal of their structures which makes such orders doubtful considering there was no reason for the issuance of retraining orders.

Busol watershed is the main source of water being distributed by the Baguio Water District (BWD) and the La Trinidad Water District (LTWD) to Baguio and La Trinidad, Benguet residents, respectively over the past several decades.

Earlier, the city legal office disclosed structures that are not covered by injunction orders issued by the NCIP could be demolished, thus, five illegal structures in Tiptop area could already be dismantled while the 450 illegal houses in Barangay Ambiong could remain until such time the injunctions will have been dissolved.