BCDA crafting master plan for Camp Aguinaldo privatization

MANILA, Philippines - The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is spending P120 million for a master plan for the partial privatization of Camp Aguinaldo and other military camps, a top official said.

BCDA president and chief executive officer Arnel Paciano Casanova told reporters the agency has secured funding worth P120 million for a master plan for the privatization of parts of the approximately 150-hectare Camp Aguinaldo and other military camps.

“We are talking with the DND (Department of National Defense) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for that so we have  allocated funding already for the master planning activities,” he said.

The BCDA is helping the DND and AFP in securing the survey and title for the lands as well as preparing the master plan to be able to get the best utilization of the military camps.

“We need to look at all military camps in the Philippines and based on the strategic national security plan of our AFP, we need to see which camps are they going to retain, where we need to invest infrastructure in the long-term and which ones are the camps they don’t need anymore so we could utilize these camps into revenue-generating projects that would also provide funding for the modernization,” Casanova said.

He said the state-run firm intends to engage a master planner after it completes the terms of reference in the first quarter of next year.

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.

The BCDA said since its creation in 1992 until mid-2013, it has generated P57.663 billion from the disposition of former Metro Manila camps, with 40.72 percent (P23.48 billion) of the total amount remitted to the National Treasury for the account of the AFP.

Even as the BCDA has already converted some former camps for other uses, Casanova said the agency still has an inventory of properties covering approximately 80 hectares in Metro Manila for bidding.

Some of the properties however, have pending cases in court.

The bidding for the 33.1-hectare Bonifacio South Pointe in Taguig City, for instance, has been put to a halt after the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order in January following a petition filed by SM Land Inc.

The 25-hectare Navy Officers Village adjoining Bonifacio South also has a pending case in the Supreme Court.

“It has been pending with the  Supreme Court for so many years and we have filed I think, five motions for resolution already but they have not acted on it yet...We are confident we are going to win it, in the same way we have won the case in JUSMAG (Joint US Military Assistance Group) against the retired generals,” Casanova said.

Meanwhile, he said the BCDA expects to award the lease and development of the two-hectare Concepcion service area along the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) and the 5.2-hectare Pamayanang Diego Silang (PDS) lot in Brgy. Usuan in Taguig City this month.

He said the BCDA is currently evaluating the lone bid for the Concepcion service area and may award the contract to the firm after the agency conducts its board meeting on Nov. 6.

The agency likewise expects to award the contract to the winning bidder for the lease and development of the PDS after the board meeting.

Casanova added that the BCDA intends to re-bid the other two-hectare service area in the north-bound side of SCTEX after it failed to get bids in the auction conducted in September.

He also said a team from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is expected to start the full feasibility study

for the proposed monorail project that will connect the Guadalupe station of the Metro Rail Transit to Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig City and Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport this month.

He noted though that the JICA wants to expand the coverage of the project by connecting more business districts in Metro Manila.