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President Aquino and his men had been ignoring a
plea of a private land-owner for payment of a long standing obligation
amounting to P81 million, whose 3.2 hectares land had been usurped by
the military using as Philippine Air Force (PAF) headquarters in Puerto
Princesa City, Palawan, without any payment, since 1973, that the Budget
department considered always as “least priority.”
Alexander Pio
Lacandazo, 65, of Rengel Road, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, said he
had sent his letter addressed to Aquino, Defense Secretary Voltaire
Gazmin and Budget Secretary Butch Abad asking for the payment of P81
million in his property which has been used as Air Force headquarters,
the Antonio Bautista Air Base (ABAB) in Puerto Princesa City.
“I
want them to know that the headquarters of the PAF in Puerto Princesa
City is squatter in my property. They never paid a single centavo ever
since,” Lacandazo said.
In his two-page letter to Aquino, which was
received in Malacañang under bar code RC1217O71, “I am highly requesting
your good governance in your capacity as President of the Republic of
the Philippines, to effect the payment of my property acquired for four
decades. I am demanding your good self to issue a directive to the
Department of National Defense, and to the occupying 570th Composite
Tactical Wing of Philippine Air Force in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan. I
am requesting sir, asking your favorable action for my claim because my
purpose is to receive the payment as private property owner,” Lacandazo
said.
The 570th Composite Tactical Wing of the PAF is now known as
the ABAB in Puerto Princesa City, adjacent to the location of the Puerto
Princesa International Airport.
Lacandazo said the 3.2-hectare
property was occupied by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)-PAF
for almost four decades when former President Ferdinand Marcos declared
martial law and issued his Letter of Instruction (LoI) No. 260 that
empowered the AFP in Palawan to usurped the property for military use.
Lacandazo
said that on March 15 and 22, 2007 meetings with AFP Real Estate Office
at Camp Aguinaldo, he was advised that his claim be held in abeyance
until such time that he could establish conclusive evidence of ownership
of the property as the documents were still under the name of his late
father Pedro Pio.
“With this requirement, I have already complied and
submitted all necessary documents pertaining to the claim. Likewise,
the property was already transferred in my name as evidence by the
attached TCT No. 179590,” Lacandazo said.
He added that despite
coordination with the PAF for the budget allocation since 2006, the
proposed budget was never considered because there was no budget for the
capital outlay for 2009 until 2012.
“As I have reiterated in my
request to expedite release of funds and despite hard efforts to get
necessary funding from Department of Budget and Management, the matter
was not considered by the AFP for several years now,” he said.
At
present, the value of the property, based on the assessment of the City
Assessor’s Office of Puerto Princesa City is now P2,500 per square
meter.
“In view of this, I am constrained to revise my claim to
conform to the value based on the certification from the City Assessor’s
Office and Resolution of the Appraisal Committee of Puerto Princesa
City which cost P81,165,000 as computed,” Lacandazo said.
