30 November 2021, from Gems:

As to the triumphant lawyers, I am not sure how they could be convinced to take up our cause outside of their profession for purely altruistic ends. Besides, we have just taken a new approach that neither confronts nor makes any one condescend.

Like I explained in my report, our main line of effort is through the administrative process. The reason is, except for the first four, who pursued the legal path, everyone else without sufficient documents are basically helpless and/or hopeless.  

From the very start, the four, Abaya et al, had something valid and legal to fight with. (The majority did not have.) So fight they did, through their lawyers, from the RTC to the highest court for over 20 years, until they won last year a legal victory which, however, could not be implemented on account of the MR filed by the SolGen – stalling further the actual occupation of their lots and awarding of the damages to them.

Their case, if we recall, was _accion reinvindicatoria_ or recovery of ownership of real property, a claim duly supported by documents way back in the early 2000s. Unfortunately, the majority of 678 lot owners have been unable to secure their complete documents for several reasons, including administrative challenges, delinquent payments, incomplete processing, etc… 

When I came on board as the new Chair last October 2021 (after serving for a few months as the Development Committee Chair), I picked one line of effort that Commo Suratos had begun to pursue: the resumption of documentation at the working level.  _Yun lang muna._

To be sure, the previous Chair had been following various simultaneous approaches, including making calls on high offices and, believe me, reaching out to the lawyers of the first four to no avail.  But I chose this line of completing the documentation process first for its simplicity and soundness – and avoidance of risk and conflict. 

Metaphorically speaking, the intrepid four were already on top of the hill and close to taking the flag. They have successfully broken through. But the 704 other Phase 678 lot owners have been woefully left far behind. Way behind. I felt we needed to help them up, and fast.

But sadly we were not treading on the same grounds or following in column formation. We have been scattered far away from the perimeter. And if we think they held the lifeline that could pull us all up, we have to rethink our chances.

First, the decision of the Supreme Court in favor of the four plaintiffs only applies to them, not us. We are not party to the case. That’s the basic difference. Nothing in the SC decision mentions the award of damages to similarly situated lot owners – and _we are not similarly situated_ because we do not have our orders of award to start with and we did not file a case. 

For us to win the same damages, each one of us has to file the same case of recovery of possession of property. But legally are we all in possession of our lots now? And if we are possessors, are we willing to go through the same legal battlefield? And if we are willing to file a case, are we ready to spend an inordinate amount of time in years trying to gut it out in court? 

The PN would probably welcome a protracted battle, but while we’re at it, they could also suddenly change course and seek the executive powers of the President to have the area reproclaimed for other purposes, which the President could actually do. The point is, we would rather _not_ see any 678 lot owner filing a new case which could unwittingly further delay the collective resolution of our situation by the executive branch.

Second, whether we are willing to go to court or simply enter the PN Golf course to survey our lots, we need something material to show to the clerk or gate guard: our TCTs or at least orders of award, proving that the land belongs to us. Do we have our proofs of ownership in hand?  Unfortunately, only a number of us have such. Only a number of us have the complete documents. No ID, no entry. Rights deprived, access denied. Sowe need to look at the status of those documents. How far has processing gone down the line?

Well, third, here’s the truth.  Unknown to us, the processing of AFPOVAI 678 documents have been suspended by DENR since 2005 during the time of Sec Mike Defensor.  Basis? The exclusionary clause of PP 461, which the PN used in defending the golf course as a security buffer and training area. While we now know that the SC had rejected that and ruled that our area within which the PN Golf Club stands remains to be a part of the alienable and disposable public land of AFPOVAI, the years of suspension have taken their toll on the administrative process. DENR locked the brakes.

Through the intervening years we learned that some applicants somehow still managed to obtain their TCTs, (which reveals a damning commentary on how some things slipped through), but the sobering fact is that the majority of 678 claimants have suffered. _Ngayon, ang dami pa rin nang walang complete documents._ No wonder we still have allocatees two decades after the first TCTs started coming out, and many are not in good standing.

So then, anchoring ourselves on the legal victory of the four, but seeing where the problem lies for the majority, we opted to march through a different route and go directly to the Secretary of DENR, in whose power and authority the erstwhile suspension orders could be lifted if only to open the gates. Only through DENR could the processing of our documents be resumed with urgency, and only through DENR could the orders of award and those dreamt of TCTs be facilitated and at last delivered into the hands of those who have long waited in vain. There is no other way.

Thank God, Sec Cimatu not only saw our way and has taken our stand, but he also provided us the vehicle, the DENR-AFPOVAI Joint Task Force, to allow us to move at full speed.  

This is the line we have decided and resolved to take for those who have been left behind. Safe and away from the Navy for now and clear of any court and outside of any lawyer’s brief since getting into the line of fire is completely uncalled for. We do not have any bullets in the form of ownership documents to begin with. 

_Kukumpletuhin lang muna natin, sir_ ang paperwork for all 678 lot owners by the end of June 2022. It’s the most fundamental requirement and condition to reach. And it’s our primary objective this coming year. Then and only then can we proceed to the next stage. We hope you understand. 

In many respects, the administrative approach is our path of least resistance and greatest speed. Take heart, this is our winning line.