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There is this “sincere” open letter  made by the president and CEO of Bases Conversion Development Authority specially for the City Government of Baguio and for other parties concerned. After reading his open letter, I have figured out that most of his points are misleading and are pretty one-sided.

Arnel Casnova asserted the notion that he is a “friend”. But the way he is treating the Camp John Hay negotiations with harassments and bullying here and there, friendship can hardly be found. 

The moment Casanova inherited the BCDA throne, the City of Baguio received little to none of the payments and shares which they are supposed to get as compared to the P256 million that they have received before Casanova assumed the throne. 

BCDA’s previous officials were dignified enough to share BCDA’s revenue to the local government as stated by Condition number 10 of the 19 Conditionalities included in Resolution number 362. 

Unfortunately, our “friend” seems to be uneager to show even half of the dignity and decency that his BCDA predecessor have displayed before. Due to some unidentified reasons, BCDA was unable to remit the revenue coming from the lease rentals of Camp John Hay which is the city government are supposed to get a portion of.

Despite of CJHDevCo.’s willingness to share a table with BCDA officials to further ta9lk things out and to possibly settle the dispute, BCDA and John Hay Management Corp. (JHMC) refused to cooperate which resulted to an arbitration case with the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. After the arbitration has already came up with a decision, BCDA and company are still hesitant to comply with the new set of conditions much to the dismay of all the people rooting for a more diplomatic way or resolving the said dispute. The time which was spent arguing and attending court hearings are supposed to be used to plan new and innovative ways to generate more revenues and boost the tourism for the welfare of the City of Baguio. Camp John Hay is also supposed to be rehabilitated and fully developed by now but due to the drama that BCDA have created, the project was remorsefully left hanging. Also, many other projects were left hanging aside from Camp John Hay. Forest Hill Cabins, Scout Hill, Sneider Building, Eco Village Commercial Park, 2nd Phase of Camp John Hay Suites, Mile-Hi Town Center and the Cordillera Theme Park to name a few.

To make things even worse, they have also ruined the peaceful lives of the third party and lessees inside Camp John Hay, most of them are retirees seeking for a safe and harmonious place to stay for their remaining years of existence. All of that were deprived to them by the mighty BCDA.


Just recently, some of  the camp’s occupants have already lose their hopes and appeared to have finally let go of their priced investment inside the former American recreational area. An eviction order promulgated by the BCDA melted their chances of retaining their properties, not until a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) arrived. 

Included in the list of lessees who were ordered to vacate their properties are Joselito Cruz, the owner of a well known perfume brand, prominent business groups like Ayala Land Inc. and some other businessmen like Manuel Zamora who have filed a separate motion battling the expulsion notice. 

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