Several military retirees and residents of barangay Apas are opposed to the plan to transfer Camp Lapu-Lapu to the Benito Ebuen Airbase in Lapu-Lapu City and move some if its units to the towns of Tabuelan and Tuburan and other areas in Central Visayas.
In an open letter released to the media yesterday, Ret. Lt. Joel Trompeta, the president of the 421st Battalion Foundation, Inc, an organization of the Armed Forces retirees, said that Camp Lapu-Lapu carries strategic advantages considering that its has been utilized as a military base since the pre-war years.
Camp Lapu-Lapu is not only the station for active servicemen but has also become the base of veterans, retirees and orphans of those soldiers killed in operation.
Trompeta also said the camp is considered a “cultural treasure” worthy to be covered and protected under Presidential Decree 374, which amended certain sections of the Republic Act 4846, otherwise known as “The Cultural Properties Preservation and Protection Act.”
Barangay Apas, where the Camp Lapu-Lapu is located, has since been designated as the housing area for both active military personnel and retirees.
Although they understand that the aim of the government to transfer Camp Lapu-Lapu is for the development of barangay Apas, Trompeta said this “must also be shared by the people who believed that the government in a democracy must stand at the center and not above political community.”
“We strongly oppose the pullout and transfer of Camp Lapu-Lapu and the ejectment of barangay Apas residents.” — Flor Z. Perolina/LPM