DMCI denies involvement in demolitions

A real estate developer tapped by the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to set up off-base housing for officers and enlisted personnel denied yesterday any role in the demolition of houses in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.

Isidro Consunji, DMCI Homes chairman, maintained the firm is not driving away any of the current residents from the seven-hectare Bonifacio Heights.

Consunji claimed he is not aware of any pending case in which DMCI is accused of malicious destruction of property covering the disputed military reservation.

Consunji pointed out the project in Bonifacio Heights, a medium-rise condominium development for enlisted personnel, is intended to enable AFP personnel to live in the premier neighborhood of Fort Bonifacio through Pag-IBIG loans.

So far, it has already completed Phase 1 of the off-base housing project, which was turned over to the AFP recently.

But the ownership of units in the housing project came under fire after several active and retired military officials claimed that only moneyed officers and civilian buyers had been given preference to own the units.

Former Navy commander Hernani Jover added DMCI’s denial runs counter to what really happened.

He said the military’s Task Force Bantay carried out the demolition of the houses in the area upon the request of the real estate firm.

Jover maintained that DMCI is but one of many respondents in an injunction case filed by the affected residents before the Pasig Regional Trial Court on April 5, 2005.

The residents sought declaratory relief, questioning the validity and construction as well as declaration of rights to ownership.

Among the respondents in the case are the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), the DND Secretary, the AFP chief, the administrator of National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) and the Solicitor General.

"While troops from the AFP’s Task Force Bantay were the ones who demolished our houses, they were acting upon the request of the DMCI," Jover said.

Jover claimed everything in the occupied area was demolished by the soldiers from the task force, maintaining the order came from the DMCI to enable the firm to expand the housing project.

Jover also belied claims by the DMCI that the units in the newly completed Bonifacio Heights are affordable for enlisted military personnel.

"For sure, an ordinary sergeant with two children can’t afford to buy a unit at the said place," Jover said.

Jover claimed the DND and the AFP top brass even commissioned the military engineering brigade to handle construction of the condominium building in the area.

HUDCC vice chairman Amado Bagatsing, on the other hand, denied claims that the houses at the site had been torn down and residents were evicted to make way for the construction of the condominium units.

Bagatsing said he personally inspected the area as early as January 2003 as chairman of the project committee and found that the area was completely vacant.

After construction of the two buildings in the area was completed, Bagatsing said some people suddenly surfaced and claimed their houses on the site were supposedly being demolished.

He pointed out the petition for a temporary restraining order filed by the alleged occupants against the developer had already been dismissed by the Pasig Regional Trial Court. - Jaime Laude