Thursday, June 19, 2008 PAF eyes eviction of ‘illegal’ occupants
THE Philippine Air Force (PAF) is determined to remove illegal occupants of the housing area inside Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base (MBEAB) for security reasons and to help provide residence to active soldiers.
Brig. Gen. Butch Lacson, commander of the 560th Air Base Wing, said they have already filed a case for eviction in court against retired PAF soldiers who own about 55 houses inside the base.
Lacson said there are 126 houses inside the housing area, but 71 houses were already sold by retired soldiers who owned them to those who are still in active service.
“I am just implementing an old order that nobody will be allowed to enter the base without ID,” Lacson said.
Lacson said the MBEAB has a total of 153.93 hectares; about 15 hectares are occupied by retired soldiers.
He said that the place is needed by soldiers in the active service.
Capt. Raul Patual, a lawyer, said a case for eviction was filed against the retired soldiers who refused to vacate the area.
Case
Patual said that Lacson stood as complainant in the eviction case which is pending before the sala of Judge Wilson Ibones of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities in Lapu-Lapu City.
Patual said a preliminary conference has been scheduled on June 26. After which, contending parties will submit their respective position papers, which will be the basis for decision.
A retired soldier who refused to be named said they don’t want to vacate their houses because they spent their own money to construct it, and no government funds were involved.
But Patual said that when the retired soldiers constructed their houses within the base, there was an implied promise that they will sell their houses to those still active in
the military service upon their retirement.
Col. Kit Gadara, director for operations of the 560th ABW, said that in the present situation, it is unfair that the soldiers who are still in active service will rent the houses occupied by retired soldiers.
Gadara said the retired soldiers can even afford to live outside the camp because some of them even own luxury cars, and several of their children are professionals and are already working.
Lacson, for his part, said that providing houses to soldiers in the active service within the base would uplift their living conditions. (EOB)
