SC affirms ruling vs Navy golf course

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that portions of the Fort Andres Bonifacio Military Reservation, which has been reserved for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Officers’ Village cannot be used by the Philippine Navy for its golf course.

In a 10-page decision promulgated in July but released to media on Oct. 21, the high court’s First Division ordered the Philippine Navy Golf Club and its Flag Officer-in-Command to return the 2,455,310-square-meter property to military veterans Merardo Abaya, Ruben Follosco, Angelito Maglonzo and Elias Sta. Clara.

The SC affirmed the ruling of the Court of Appeals, which upheld the decision of the regional trial court.

Aside from denying the petition for review filed by the Navy, the high tribunal modified the appellate court’s decision and ordered the petitioners to pay rental fees of P5,000 per month to Abaya and Follosco from December 1996 and Maglonzo and Sta. Clara from November 1998.

The SC based the computations on the dates the lots were awarded to the claimants by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

In 1965, then president Diosdado Macapagal issued Proclamation 461, which reserved 245.5 hectares of land within the Fort Andres Bonifacio Military Reservation for the AFP Officers’ Village.

The former military officers said they were unable to make any improvements on the property because the Navy developed the land into a golf course.

They filed a petition to recover possession of the property before the lower court.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Mario Lopez, the SC said the proclamation on the AFP Officers’ Village was issued in 1965 while the Philippine Navy golf course was developed in 1976.

The SC said the exclusionary clause in the proclamation “applies only to areas that are being used for public or quasi-public purposes.”

The high court also ruled that there was no existing issuance that allocated land within the AFP Officer’s Village for the construction of the golf course.