A suitable relocation site

Is this another case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing?

In August 2008, the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) entered into a joint venture agreement with the consortium of Megaworld Corp., Empire Land Holdings Inc., and First Centro Inc. with the conformity of the National Police Commission (Napolcom) for the development of the 71,000 square meter Napolcom property in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.

The Napolcom owns the property by virtue of a proclamation issued by former President Ramos in 1998.

In 2007, President Arroyo issued another proclamation authorizing the BCDA to administer and develop the said Napolcom property for the latter’s benefit.

What the Napolcom which is under the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) seems to have closed its eyes to is the fact that the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC), established under Republic Act no. 6975 of the DILG Act of 1990 occupies and administers the site covered by the agreement as its head office and site of units, namely the National Police College and the National Forensic Science and Training Institute.

The PPSC is mandated by law to serve as the premier educational institution for training, human resource development, and continuing education of all personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP), fire and jail bureaus, among others.

However, nowhere in the joint venture agreement does it mention a proper relocation site for PPSC and the cost attendant thereto. 

The PPSC is being evicted from the land that it legally occupies. The last time we heard, the area is already being bulldozed with the PPSC personnel having no place to go. Like the Napolcom, the PPSC is chaired by DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno. The least that Puno could have done is make sure that the PPSC had a suitable relocation site, enough to accommodate the 800 personnel that occupy the premises for training purposes.

In a recent letter to Puno, PPSC employees emphasized that they are not opposed to a transfer per se so long as a suitable, strategic, and permanent relocation site is provided and that a relocation and replication scheme extended by the BCDA to the AFP Command and General State College, the National Defense College of the Philippines, and the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy be extended.

These employees are opposing a lease contract signed by the DILG and Ferigate for the use of the annex building of PET Plans along EDSA in Makati as the proposed temporary transfer site of the PPSC office.

Their opposition is understandable. According to Makati building official Nelson Morales, an ocular inspection of the existing vacant six storey building (PPSC will be occupying the second to sixth floors) showed that it has not been properly maintained, that its architectural finishes such as the acoustic ceiling board and partitions are worn our and partly dilapidated, that the electrical fixtures and wiring devices have all been gone, leaving the wirings exposed, while all mechanical loads and equipment including the fire protection systems need rehabilitation.

Morales advised the owner or administrator to submit the building to complete retrofitting works or renovation prior to occupying the same, and to secure the necessary permits pursuant to the Building Code. In short, occupying the building would be detrimental to the safety of anybody.

We cannot stress enough the importance of the PPSC. All police, fire, and jail officials have to undergo training with the institution prior to any promotion. It is the PPSC which trains forensic experts, without who solving crimes would be extremely difficult.

The least the government could do is treat our police, fire and jail officials like decent human beings.

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