Fort Magsaysay Mess: Map used in compromise land deal altered -exec

A ranking official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) admitted yesterday that there was "hocus-pocus" in the surveying of a portion of Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija being claimed by a private person.

Undersecretary Roseller de la Peña told the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that the map, which was used as basis for the compromise agreement between the private claimant and the government over 4,689 hectares of land, was altered to make it appear that the area is outside the military reservation.

De la Peña also revealed that the National Mapping Resource and Information Authority (NAMRIA), a DENR-attached agency, was not authorized to represent the DENR in a series of meetings called by the Office of the Solicitor General.

Salvador Bonavie, head executive assistant of former NAMRIA administrator Liberato Manuel, represented the agency in the meetings.

Bonavie had admitted dispatching a team of surveyors to Fort Magsaysay and allowing the disbursement of P10,000 for the expenses of the surveyors.

Senate Minority Leader Teofisto Guingona said the testimony of De la Peña validated his claim that the compromise agreement between the government and the private claimant, Florencia Garcia-Diaz, was not only anomalous but also illegal and immoral.

Guingona asked the Blue Ribbon Committee to summon Manuel in the next committee hearing to shed light on NAMRIA's participation in the controversial survey.

The Senate investigation was impelled by the privilege speech of Guingona questioning the compromise deal where the government agreed not to contest Diaz's application for the titling of the 4,689 hectares, while Diaz would give up her claim to more than 16,000 hectares based on a Spanish title.

Guingona said the government should not have acceded to the compromise agreement since it had already won its case with the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court had already declared that Spanish titles have no evidentiary weight, and Diaz had failed to prove that she had been in continuous possession of the property for 30 years. -