Monday, July 30, 2007 Rama: This range close (sic) By Karlon N. Rama Stage Five
LAST Friday, July 27, 2007—a date which will live in infamy—the 300-strong Kamagong Gun Club Inc. was dealt a blow that shook the organization to its very core.
Shortly before noon, an officer from the 53rd Engineering Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) stormed into the organization’s clubhouse, located inside the Central Command Headquarters in Lahug, and informed caretaker Roberto Perero that the club’s firing range has been ordered closed.
Not an hour after, and without a written order from any authority, several Army heavy equipment units rolled into the facility, leaving destruction in its wake. Soldiers, some armed with m16 rifles, escorted the construction vehicles and set up a garrison.
The Gestapo-like arrival of the occupying force happened so fast that all the range caretaker could do was make frantic calls to club members who keep expensive shooting equipment in the club’s vault, telling them to come quick lest their belongings disappear.
The arrival of Ret. Col. Ceferino Layao and Dr. Tyrone Mercader, the incumbent club president and vice president, respectively, did nothing to stop the occupation of the engineering troops; nor did their presence compel the military hierarchy to present any legal document to justify the eviction.
All the officers could do was facilitate the use of a warehouse, owned by club member Mario Caballes, to temporarily house all the club’s possessions – target racks, steel vaults, reloading machines, etc.
Active lease. The club, a non-stock non-profit organization, holds a lease over the property. The contract, signed with the concurrence of the Judge Advocate General’s Office, expires in October yet.
But, during Friday’s fiasco, neither that nor the fact that the club has been operating and maintaining the range at no cost to the government—in 2005, the club spent close to a million in rehabilitating and expanding the facility for the military’s use—for the past 14 years, meant a damn thing.
Lt. Gen. Cardoso Luna, sources from within CentCom have revealed, ordered the closure that was quickly carried out by Col. Romeo Gapuz, the CentCom chief of staff, and Maj. Isidro Maghanoy, the camp engineer.
The same sources say that Luna wants to use the range compound as the campsite for people from the 53rd as they set up a six-unit apartment building adjacent to the site. They had only recently finished a similar building a few meters away.
What I don’t get is why they are building apartments in the place when the Provincial Government, the actual lot owner, is taking over the entire CentCom lot in the next three to five years as a proposed site for an IT park or a similar facility. In its place, the Province is giving the Army a lot in Balamban.
Another issue that has got my goat is the storm-trooper tactic. Squatters occupying private land get a mandatory 30-day notice and cannot be compelled to move out without a court order.
Kamagong, on the other hand, has a valid lease and cannot be considered a common squatter. But it was forced out of its home for the past 14 years without the simple courtesy of a by-your-leave.
Reason. The six-unit apartment the army is building is supposed to house some of the 140 families displaced by the March 2007 execution of a court-issued writ that cleared a parcel of land in Barangay Apas (designated as Lot 932) of illegal occupants, many of whom were CentCom personnel.
According to my sources, Luna intends to give the rest of the displaced parcels of land within the firing range compound on which to put up housing.
Considering that the range compound is not even 2,000 square meters wide, I believe the need-for-housing explanation is simply lip service that holds as much weight as the mortar rounds the Marines used in Basilan. He simply wants the club thrown out.
Politics is the most likely explanation.
Luna is an underclassman of club president Layao and they’ve crossed swords in the past. Moreover, Lot 932, now owned by tycoon Augusto W. Go, was cleared under Luna’s watch with the help of Dr. Isabelo “Billy” Jaca, a close personal friend of Col. Layao.
Rallying point. Kamagong members are understandably hot under the collar.
According to Atty. Ervin Estandarte, club member cum club legal counsel, a string of criminal and administrative cases will be filed against the military officials before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas today.
Col. Layao, meanwhile, is calling all club members—current or otherwise—to a general membership meeting at the Sea Joy Restaurant along Andres Abellana St., on Thursday.
The primary item on the agenda is a relocation site for the shooting range. A lot of properties are being offered—a parcel of land in Tawason in Mandaue City, another piece of real estate in Pamotan, a lot in Busay and another lot in Barangay Pit-os.
