Retired Navy officers seek court intervention in Boni housing case

Retired Navy officers asked a Pasig City court yesterday to stop the Philippine Navy from evicting them from their quarters at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.

The Navy is set to begin evicting the retired officers tomorrow.

In a last-ditch effort, the Navy Officers Village Association, Inc. (NOVAI) sought a temporary restraining order to stop the eviction on grounds that each of its member holds a title to the lot where their individual houses stand.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Navy cannot evict the retired Navy officers from their houses because the Navy has no title to the land that they have been occupying, the NOVAI said in a statement.

In Aug., 2004, the Pasig regional trial court declared the retired Navy officers’ land titles to be "valid, indefeasible and incontrovertible," as against that of the Navy, the NOVAI added.

The case is now pending before the Court of Appeals, NOVAI said.

Capt. Geronimo Malabanan, Navy spokesman, said the Navy has no other recourse but to abide by the court’s decision, if it decides to issue a temporary restraining order.

"Anyway, a TRO has a timeframe. After that, we will enforce the eviction order," he said.

Yesterday, Senate President Franklin Drilon expressed support for the Navy’s action to evict the 52 retired Navy officers from their housing.

"There is absolutely no basis for the officials to claim the land," he told reporters yesterday.

Drilon said he has testified before a court that the executive order which was used as basis by the "residents" for their titles was "non-existent" and spuriously acquired.

Drilon, who was President Corazon Aquino’s executive secretary, said the retired Navy officers cannot invoke an executive order supposedly issued in 1993 because it was found to be inauthentic.

"My signature was forged, even President Aquino’s signature was forged," he said. "The serial number used in the (fake) EO was beyond the number (of EOs that Mrs. Aquino) executed."

On the other hand, retired Navy Capt. Proceso Maligalig, former spokesman of the defunct Reform the Armed Forces Movement, questioned the "real motive" behind the Navy’s action in seeking to evict the retired officers.

Maligalig, who is a resident of the naval housing facility, said he was surprised when Navy chief Vice Adm. Mateo Mayuga ordered the 56 retired officers to vacate their houses within seven days or face eviction.

"Actually, the Navy is the squatter, not us," he said.

"Our land titles were granted in 1993. And of all the people, the Philippine Navy, which was supposed to protect its own, questioned this in court, but it lost the case."

Maligalig said instead of protecting its own, the Navy brass appears to be "acting for somebody."

"I don’t want to accuse anybody, but we have a suspicion that secret deals have been made here," he said.

Maligalig said several years ago, NOVAI officials and members were offered P5 million in cash and a free condominium unit each at an unspecified location if they would leave the premises.

However, the attempt to "buy" the NOVAI officials and members out of their titled lots failed, he added.

Maligalig accused the Navy brass of resorting to a "disinformation campaign" to portray the retired officers in a bad light before the junior officers.

"The truth of the matter is that we are willing to negotiate with them (Navy brass) but we were ignored," he said.

Maligalig said their area being occupied by the retired Navy officers was declared as alienable to all military officers by President Diosdado Macapagal in 1965.

No part of the area has been legally declared as Philippine Navy housing, he added. — With Christina Mendez