THOUSANDS of families risk of losing their homes in Camp Evangelista, Barangay Patag, Cagayan de Oro City.
A local court is set to implement a writ of demolition against the residents in the area, which is known as home of the many soldiers in the City of Gold.
The City Council passed on Monday, May 27, a resolution to hold in abeyance the court order, hoping to postpone the impending demolition ordered by the Supreme Court.
Councilor Zaldy Ocon said they are also requesting President Rodrigo Duterte to issue another proclamation order in the hope of overturning an old proclamation order declaring the area in Patag as a military reservation.
The writ of demolition was issued on May 20, directing the Regional Trial Court Branch 17 to implement it immediately.
At least three parcels of land are contested, with an area of 80 hectares. Ocon said this will likely affect about 2,000 households.
The land conflict started when the military questioned the occupancy of private owners inside the reservation. The owners -- specifically the Chabons and Bacas families -- insisted they had land titles and the case had already been settled in court.
In fact, the Regional Trial Court Branch 17 had sided with the land occupants and honored their titles from the Land Registration Court. But the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) appealed the case to the Court of Appeals, where again, the families won.
The AFP did not stop and took the case to Supreme Court, where it ruled that the lot in question are inalienable and are not subject to private property. It also held that the titles are null and void and has no effect, considering that the area is a military reservation.
"We want the President to issue another proclamation order and declare it as an onsite relocation instead of a military reservation," Ocon said.
Councilor Romeo Calizo, whose wife is the chieftain of Barangay Patag, had suspicion that the residents were deceived by the real status of the land, and made to believe that it can be acquired.
He said the a new proclamation order might be the only solution to the land conflict, which already reached its finality.
"We strongly support Councilor Ocon to ask the RTC to postpone the effectivity of this order. Another presidential order that can repeal an old presidential order signed by President Manuel Quezon. That order was signed on 1938, the situation is different now because of the creeping urbanization," he said.