BCDA ‘ownership’ of Tarlac land nixed

CAPAS, Tarlac — Some 60,00 residents of seven barangays here have expressed support for the move of Tarlac Rep. Jesli Lapuz to declare their areas beyond the jurisdiction of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), amid fears of agrarian unrest that could eventually affect plans of the nearby Clark special economic zone (CSEZ).

"What we have in the areas is a potential powder keg. About 70 percent of the population of Capas is in the seven barangays which sprouted decades ago over the 24,257 hectares of the former military reservation of the US Air Force at Clark," Lapuz said in an interview yesterday.

After the US Air Force left their former military base at Clark, the Bases Conversion law placed under the jurisdiction of the BCDA control over the 4,500-hectare former US military base which is now the CSEZ, and another 30,000 hectares of the former US military reservation in the Clark sub-zone area which is mostly within Tarlac.

"There has been a growing uneasiness among the people in the barangays because they fear that they could be driven out by the BCDA anytime," Lapuz said.

He said that the areas under BCDA jurisdiction here include 1,870 hectares in Barangay Arengureng, 1,324 hectares in Lawi, 6,006 in Bueno, 5,809 in Maruglo, 1,836 hectares in Patling, 7412 hectares in Sta. Juliana, and 4,198 hectares in Sta. Lucia.

Lapuz said that residents in the barangays could not claim title to the lands where they had built their homes over 50 years ago, as well as to their farmlands which Americans had tolerated before they left Clark, since the areas remain classified as reservation.

"It is high time that they be given titles to their lands and be made beneficiaries of agrarian reform," Lapuz also said.

Lapuz noted that some 10,000 hectares of the Clark sub-zone are supposed to remain as military reservation under the Department of National Defense, but there is yet no clear delineation of the areas for such a reservation.

"We are not against the DND military reservation. What we want to make sure is that such reservation would not cover the seven populated barangays and the farmlands there," Lapuz said.

Meanwhile, the mayors of this town and neighboring Bamban town have appealed to the state-owned Clark Development Corporation (CDC) to remit to the two municipalities its shares of CDC income, which is now about P23 million.

Capas mayor, Rey Catacutan said that since the CSEZ became operational in 1995, only about P300,000 was released by the CDC to the municipal coffers here.

Bamban Mayor Leonardo Anunciacion similarly claimed that the CDC has yet to remit its profit shares to his hometown "we have yet to calculate how much all of these are, but I estimate that it could reach about P10 million already," Anunciacion said.

Under the law and implementing rules that converted the former US Air base into a special economic zone, the CDC is required to allot part of its income as shares to municipalities hosting the vast CSEZ, among them, this town and Bamban.

Other areas playing host to the Clark ecozone are, Mabalacat and Angeles City in Pampanga, as well as the eastern towns of Zambales province.