BCDA to craft master plan for Camp Aguinaldo privatization

MANILA, Philippines - The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is planning to craft a master plan for the privatization of parts of Camp Aguinaldo in the first quarter of 2013 in line with the aim of raising more funds for the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

“The plan is to engage a master planner for Camp Aguinaldo by the first quarter,” BCDA president and chief executive officer Arnel Paciano Casanova said in a briefing yesterday.

He said parts of the approximately 150-hectare Camp Aguinaldo, are not being utilized or are being claimed by land grabbers.

To be able to identify which parts of Camp Aguinaldo can be privatized, he said, the BCDA still needs to investigate the titles and conduct a land survey.

Casanova said the move to privatize parts of Camp Aguinaldo is intended to generate more funds for the modernization of the AFP. “We really needs to modernize the AFP but the budget from the GAA (General Appropriations Act) is not enough.”

The BCDA is mandated to transform former military bases into alternative productive civilian use.

Under Executive Order 309, proceeds of leases, joint ventures and all transactions other than sale entered into by the BCDA involving parts of Metro Manila military camps shall be distributed equally between the state-run corporation and the AFP.

Pursuant to Republic Act 7917 which provides the distribution of proceeds from the sale of portions of Metro Manila Military camps, and for other purposes, the AFP gets 35 percent of the net proceeds from sale transactions.

Casanova said the BCDA is set to remit an additional P1.646 billion to the Bureau of Treasury for the AFP’s modernization program.

The amount is on top of the P234 million that the BCDA has remitted for this year.