To see is to see

A day before Valentine’s Day, I went to Baguio City to see for myself and find out from local stakeholders and friends among Baguio media, what happened to Camp John Hay residents who were evicted by the Bases Conversion & Development Authority (BCDA).

Contrary to the press release of some PR group and gobbled up by some members of media, the takeover of Camp John Hay did not go smoothly, involved bringing in the police, sheriff, breaking door locks and padlocking units and throwing out residents and posting security at every floor.

As a consequence, the residents said in a press conference that illegal settlers or “squatters” get better treatment in the Philippines than retirees and foreign investors.

“When the government wants to evict illegal settlers, they are required to serve a court order and proper notice. Before being evicted, illegal settlers get compensation, a relocation site and transportation to move their belongings.

“The unit owners at Camp John Hay did not receive sufficient notice to vacate, received no compensation or assistance to relocate. They were told to sue CJHDev.co, while the Koreans who opposed the eviction were threatened with deportation.” The rest were forced to undertake a new lease with BCDA or suffer eviction as well.

None of these ugly events were in the news because many people assumed that the unit owners evicted were “rich millionaires” from Metro Manila who “owned” summer cottages or imported log cabins that only the rich could afford.

What I discovered was those evicted residents in Camp John Hay were “unit owners” as in “condo units” because both Forest Lodge and The Manor are condotels or condominiums also operating as hotels. This is why it is not always easy to get rooms at either place.

Instead of “rich people,” the residents in condotel units of Forest Lodge and The Manor at John Hay were regular Filipino or Korean retirees, mostly in their 70s and 80s, benevolently invested in or helping Filipino students through scholarships, creating jobs, Christian outreach ministries or married to Filipinas.

Filipino residents and investors meanwhile are second or third owners.

According to realtors, a number of first or second unit owners who could not travel or enter Baguio City during the COVID lockdown years sold their units due to uncertainty and costly maintenance of the units.

Other unit owners are Filipino retirees and native residents of Baguio City, while some are from Pangasinan, La Union and using their John Hay unit as a second home or as Airbnb type rentals. I met a Baguio native who only acquired a unit in 2023 for about P3 million or P3.5 million only.

What’s interesting is that the BCDA itself owns approximately 20 units or various types of residences as well as golf shares or membership and has representation and power on the Board of Camp John Hay. The units are either residential or for use of BCDA officials when in Baguio, along with access or use of the golf course.

In the past week, there has been an ongoing exchange of claims and allegations in both mainstream media and social media, as well as evident “demolition jobs” related to BCDA and CJHDevco. But caught in between the crossfire are the evicted residents.

They have become the forgotten and unwanted children of a corporate divorce issued by the Supreme Court that made an incomplete decision by forgetting the third party rights of the residents.

The question is: did the SC intentionally ignore the third party rights, thereby leaving them homeless and “out in the streets” so to speak, or did the decision mean for BCDA and CJHDevco to jointly settle and shoulder compensation for third party rights since both were at fault?

According to a member of the Baguio City media, the BCDA recently reiterated it does not recognize the claims of evicted residents in regard to third party rights. But, on the other hand, it is the BCDA that undertook the eviction of residents, not CJHDevco.

So far, the two big issues that legal minds are wrestling over are the “incomplete decision” of the Supreme Court and the third party rights issue. In addition, there is the question of why the BCDA could not simply “honor” existing contractual obligations entered into by CJHDevco, like many other corporations do upon taking over other corporations or companies.

A growing suspicion is that there is a Manila-based corporation (not the MVP group) that has long wanted to get The Manor and Forest Lodge to add to their growing list of minor hotels. That is why the current management of The Manor and Forest Lodge is labeled as transition management.

That could also be the reason for the rush to clear the hotels of “unit owners” that can obstruct or be a deal breaker for the lusting corporation to waltz in before the year ends.

CJHDevco insiders confirm that they had been approached by a family member of said corporation who signified interest to partner with CJHDevco. But after several exploratory talks it became clear that the Manila-based corporation was targeting Forest Lodge and The Manor ONLY.

Little by little, the plot is being exposed as well as the list of suspects who have been lobbying, unmindful of the resulting “extreme prejudice and injustice” against the innocent third parties.

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Beware. “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money, have wandered from the faith and impaled themselves with much grief” - 1Timothy 6:10