BAGUIO City Councilor Peter Fianza is hoping that a partnership would be forged between the City Government and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) for the preservation of the tree park beside the Baguio Convention Center.
Fianza had proposed the resolution thanking the GSIS for declaring its intent to preserve and maintain the tree park.
The resolution also lauded the GSIS for its resolve not to sell the lot or allow its conversion into a commercial area.
The resolution was approved by the City Council during the regular session on Monday, April 1.
Fianza said he hopes to solidify the partnership into a memorandum of agreement with the GSIS.
Efforts to preserve the GSIS tree park were spearheaded by children from the Baguio Pines Family Learning Center (BPFLC), who trooped to the city hall last month to present their letters asking President Rodrigo Duterte to save the park.
The pupils, accompanied by school principal Leonila Bayla, went to the office of Baguio Mayor Mauricio Domogan and presented the letters.
Bayla herself implored Domogan to stop the sale of the park to a private firm to give way to the proposed Baguio Air Residences condominium.
GSIS then issued a statement saying it does not intend to sell the property and stressed that it is also bent on preserving the tree park.
The tree park is beside the Baguio Convention Center which was acquired from the GSIS through the city's accumulated share from the lease of the 247-hectare John Hay Special Economic Zone (JHSEZ) held by the state owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) in the amount of P250 million in 2012.
The city government has expressed its intent to buy the lot beside the Baguio Convention Center but negotiations have failed as the selling price has gone up to P670 million, which the city cannot afford to purchase.
The clamor to preserve the area was rekindled when the University of the Philippines Baguio College of Social Sciences presented two studies showing the current state of the 1.4-hectare tree park.
