The city council is eying the declaration of the ancestral domain of Happy Hallow barangay as a historical, heritage, and ecological district.
Under the proposed ordinance introduced by Councilor Isabelo Cosalan, Jr. the Happy Hallow ancestral domain should be recognized in the list of national historical, heritage, and ecological sites for conservation, protection, and restoration.
Happy Hallow is covered by the original Certificate of Title (OCT) 0-CALT-58 containing an area of 146.4182 hectares.
The ordinance stated that it will be a declared policy of the local government to recognize, protect, and promote the culture and heritage of the indigenous peoples, the Ibaloys and Kankana-eys of the city.
As a historical, heritage, and ecological site, the proposed ordinance stated the ancestral domain of Happy Hallow shall be zoned as an ecological-heritage district in the city’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) and Zoning Ordinance.
The ordinance added all activities inside the ecological-heritage district shall be by the ancestral domain sustainable development and protection plan (ADSDPP), the permitted uses of the area, and the guidelines set by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) for such a particular site.
The proposed ordinance tasked the City Planning, Development, and Sustainability Office (CPDSO) and its unit designated for the indigenous peoples sector to oversee and monitor the implementation of the activities in the ecological-heritage district.
The ordinance proposed the creation of an inter-agency committee to aid the CPDSO in the determination, formulation, implementation, and monitoring of appropriate programs for the enhancement and adaptation of the ecological-heritage district and it shall be composed of the city mayor as the chairperson to be co-chaired by the city’s Indigenous Peoples mandatory Representative (IPMR) and the president of the Happy Hallow Indigenous Peoples Organization as the vice chairperson.
Members of the said committee include the Happy Hallow punong barangay, Happy Hallow Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson, representative from the Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development, representative from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, representative from the NHCP, representative from the Department of Tourism and representative from non-government organizations. The secretariat shall be the personnel of the CPDSO.
The ordinance proposed P5 million shall be earmarked from the annual budget of the local government every year for the ecological-heritage district’s sustainable development and protection. – PIO release
