18 March 2023, from Gems:

Just so you would understand, here’s one blocking move we made last week. It is temporary, of course. As an urgent follow-on effort, Pres Art Abadilla requested, and BCDA Chair Lorenzana promptly acceded to, a meeting with selected AFPOVAI officials on March 14, 2023.

Former SND Secretary, BCDA Chairman Delfin Lorenzana and VP for Budget and Revenue Allocation Department, Hedda Rulona met with us at the BCDA Corporate Office at Bonifacio Technology Center, BGC.

The meeting yielded the following outcomes:

1. BCDA is proceeding with the PN Housing Project based on its signed MOA with DND, AFP and PN.
2. The MOA is a product of a 5-year development process done in consultation and coordination with BCDA.
3. Considering that it was started in 2018, the legal case filed by the four petitioners Abaya et. al. against PN and PNGC was then ongoing. Ms Rulona, who is also the SVP for Investment and Financial Management, thought (until today) that the case was still pending. But we informed her that it had been finally settled in favor of the four. In fact, the Supreme Court’s decision was now ready for final execution.
4. I narrated the series of chronological events from June 24, 2015 when RTC Pasig Branch 266 first issued a favorable decision, up to Jan 15, 2022 when the Supreme Court finally denied the Navy’s Motion for Reconsideration and issued an entry of judgment, then finally down to the RTC Taguig’s issuance of writ of execution and designation of a Sheriff on Feb 15, 2023.
5. Then I expressed our collective shock when on February 21, 2023, just six days after the issuance of the writ of execution, the DND, AFP, PN, in joint partnership with BCDA, conducted a groundbreaking ceremony for a 9-storey PN permanent residential housing project for its senior officers at the open area right within the bounds of Phase 678 composed of Blocks 99,100, 101, 102 and 116, encroaching on the properties of 67 lot owners therein, 31 of whom have been already issued their land titles.
6. Until that meeting, BCDA Chair Lorenzana and VP Rulona, had no factual knowledge of Ph 678 lots inside the project site. The plans were completed on BCDA’s presumption of regularity on the Navy’s part in their preparation of documents and due diligence which indicated no conflicting claims on the land where the buildings would rise. BCDA, it appeared, never asked or checked or validated PN’s documents establishing its ownership.
7. To prove our ownership, we showed them the AFPOVAI subdivision plan, the list of Phase 678 lot owners, copies of some lot owners’ individual TCTS, AFPOVAI’s TCT 13633 and TCT 13634, and Presidential Proclamation 461.
8. I explained that in the face of these documents, BCDA has the obligation to take appropriate actions, including suspending the implementation of the project.
9. Ms Rulona explained that the contract has been signed and many would be affected, including the developer and PN units due for relocation from the Senate Building Complex project area.
10. I stressed that whether we like it or not, a major delay will happen on account of our resistance to the PN housing project. Our resistance will take many forms, from adverse exposure to the media to TROs and injunctions filed against them.
11. BCDA Chair Lorenzana said that it would be costlier to all concerned if delays out of a legal case happen, and instructed Ms Rulona to advise the PN side to resolve the issue first with AFPOVAI.
12. Ms Rulona mentioned that AFPOVAI may want to look at other areas to offer to the Navy, but I immediately countered that they are not in a position to negotiate for something that is not theirs and that we cannot yield any part of the AFPOVAI area given that it has long been disposed of, awarded or allocated to lot owners.
13. Commo Suratos said that the group cannot make any commitments on behalf of the affected lot owners and members of AFPOVAI Phase 678. The encroached properties are theirs. He added that if the PN were thinking of the application of exclusionary provision, that has long been settled with finality by the Supreme Court.
14. BCDA Chair opined that if the Navy was planning to have the area re-proclaimed, it only goes to show that the property is not theirs to begin with.
15. President Abadilla, for his part, informed Ms Rulona that DENR is continuously processing Phase 678 lot applications; the latest orders of award, in fact, were to members of Block 99-102. Pres Abadilla stated that with the continuing administration of property applications by DENR’s Land Management Bureau, which meticulously checks and validates all pertinent records and conflicting claims, that fact only attested to AFPOVAI’s established ownership over the area.
16. President Abadilla likewise presented Col Mayaman Mangondaya who has a lot in Block 101 as a long suffering lot owner, whose lot has been occupied by PN’s OESPA Building.
17. Upon reviewing the documents, Ms Rulona, who admitted seeing them only for the first time, acknowledged the need to hear the side of the Navy for an objective and informed decision to take relative to the PN Housing project.
18. Asked pointedly about the movement of funds, she admitted that no BCDA funds have been transferred yet, but the Notice to Proceed (NTP) has been signed and the project timeline has been set off.
19. She also stated that BCDA would be meeting with concerned PN officers, including the FOIC, PN and some OSG lawyers two days later, on Thursday, March 16, at the BCDA Office.
20. I reminded her that the issue is bound to hit the Philippine Navy hard since we have already prepared the narrative of its historical abuse and injustice to the lot owners and this latest demonstration of brazen land grabbing will find various communication and social platforms very soon. I then proceeded to read a portion of such narrative, tentatively entitled, “We Can’t Sit Back and Watch While They Keep Digging Our Graves.”
21. In the end, the BCDA Chair instructed Ms Rulona to bring the issue to PN during their meeting with the project group last Thursday.
22. BCDA Chair Lorenzana said that the funds must be withheld for now pending the resolution of the issue.
23. The BCDA Chair advised AFPOVAI to write a letter to OIC, DND, copy furnished BCDA, AFP and PN, complete with the same supporting documents we presented, for their appreciation.
24. In the end, he said that AFPOVAI and PN must meet and resolve the encroachment issue between themselves as soon as possible.

POST MEETING:

AFPOVAI Pres Abadilla sent the follow-up letter to OIC, DND last Friday. AFPOVAI’s supporting documents were sent to BCDA Office on the same day. We requested some feedback on the outcome of BCDA’s project implementation Thursday meeting with the Philippine Navy, but got none from BCDA until today. I am still awaiting for any message or gesture from FOIC, PN for us to meet as soon as possible before this issue breaks out fully in the open.

For your information, continuing suggestions and concerted actions.