BCDA finalizes dev’t plans for JUSMAG, Navy Village

The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is now finalizing development plans for two large pieces of real estate within the Fort Bonifacio reservation following the favorable resolution of legal problems involving the said properties.

BCDA president and chief executive officer (CEO) Narciso L. Abaya said the 35.5-hectare JUSMAG and 47.5 hectare Navy Village would be developed through a joint venture with a private company.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will greatly benefit from the development of the properties.

Under RA 7917, 35 percent of proceeds from the sale or 50 percent of lease proceeds of Fort Bonifacio properties would go to the AFP Military Modernization Fund.

BCDA vice president for business development Aileen Zosa said that the two properties are ideal for mixed-use development, with low to medium density, high-end residential units.

Two recent court rulings upheld the legality of the government’s ownership of the 35.5-hectare JUSMAG area and the nearby 47.5-hectare Navy Village.

Zosa said that many developers have expressed interest in acquiring the JUSMAG property.

Those who have expressed interest include Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), Fort Bonifacio Development Corp. (FBDC), Megaworld and Robinsons Land.

Zosa said ALI, and FBDC and as well as Megaworld are keen on acquiring the JUSMAG property as it is strategic to the adjacent properties they are now developing, particularly the Bonifacio Global City and McKinley Hills, respectively.

"We expect more developers to express their interest once we formally put it up on the market next year," Zosa said.

In a two-page resolution handed down last Nov. 27, the Supreme Court (SC) affirmed its Sept. 22, 2006 verdict and denied with finality the motion for reconsideration filed by the Southside Homeowners’ Association Inc. (SHAI).

The SC decision reversed an earlier ruling by the Court of Appeals (CA) favoring the SHAI.

The Court of Appeals (CA) similarly tossed out an earlier judgment by a Regional Trial Court favoring the settlers, and declared as null and void the owner’s title in the name of Navy Officers Village Association, Inc. (NOVAI).

In a 47-page decision penned by CA Associate Justice Renato Dacudao and concurred on by Associate Justices Rosemari Carandang and Estela Perlas-Bernabe, the CA 8th Division directed the NOVAI to vacate the property and surrender the owner’s copy of Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) No. 15387 in its name to the Pasig City Register of Deeds for cancellation.

According to the Appellate Court, the land in question is a government property that could not be registered in the name of a private entity.

The homeowners, mostly retired Navy officers, were also ordered to remove whatever improvements they have introduced there and desist from exercising acts of ownership or possession on the said property.

The Appellate Court found glaring flaws in the arguments and documentary evidence submitted by NOVAI to substantiate its claim over the contested property.

Records of the case showed that the contested land was allegedly sold to NOVAI for P14.2 million.

However, NOVAI leaders, among them retired top brass of the Navy, admitted paying only P360,000 for the land, which then Land Management Bureau (LMB) chief Alberto Palad Jr. purportedly considered as adequate compensation enough to execute a deed of sale.