Army evicts ex-soldiers’ families, leaving hundreds homeless in Cagayan de Oro

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – Felisa Perez stood silently as she watched hundreds of police officers in full riot gear accompany workers to demolish their homes inside Camp Evangelista, the headquarters of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, on Tuesday, June 18.

“It’s too painful. I raised my two children in that house 20 years ago,” the 52-year-old Perez told reporters.

Perez said most of the affected residents are families of former soldiers who served in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. They knew that eventually the Army would take back the vast tract of land when they settled there decades ago.

Families have lived there for at least 20 to 30 years, and some even longer.

Perez said they had hoped that the government would be compassionate and grant them land titles because of the service their husbands provided to the country.

But the Philippine Army has other plans for the more than 100-hectare property.

Major Joseph Say, chief of the Philippine Army Real Estate Office, said the military property would be used for barracks and improvements that the 4th ID badly needs.

Say said the ongoing demolition of more than 400 houses inside Camp Evangelista is in compliance with a Supreme Court decision on November 20, 2013, in favor of the Army’s rights over 103 hectares around what used to be called the 4th Military Area, a military reservation on the outskirts of Cagayan de Oro.

He said the ongoing demolition covers 42 hectares of communities of former soldiers residing inside the military reservation.

“We know the families of the soldiers will be hurt by our decision to demolish their houses, but the Philippine Army also needs this land for our barracks and training facilities,” Say said.

Captain Gregor Alfonsin Pondoyo, Judge Advocate General Services assistant legal officer, said the 2013 SC ruling quashed all petitions filed against the Army by claimants, including their ownership claims.

Pondoyo said the lawyers of some residents had filed petitions to stop the demolition, but the Court of Appeals rejected them twice because of the 2013 SC ruling.

He said the SC ruled that the land titles presented by residents as proof of ownership were considered “derivative titles” and were ordered canceled.

A displaced resident, 38-year-old Ronnie Fernandez, said his family had a clean title for a parcel of land on which he built a store.

Fernandez said his family would file a case against the Army because a demolition team proceeded with destroying their property despite the title.

“They demolished our houses without giving us financial assistance. There is not even a relocation site for us,” he said. – Rappler.com