Davide: CentCom to stay in Apas

CEBU, Philippines - The Central Command (CentCom) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines would stay in its current location in Barangay Apas, Cebu City.

This was assured by Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III to Magdalo Party-list Representative Francisco Ashley Acedillo who visited the Capitol yesterday.

Acedillo, a former soldier who lived at the camp, was able to talk Davide on the situation of CentCom which was earlier proposed to be relocated outside Cebu City.

“Being a former soldier and having lived in Camp Lapu-Lapu for the better part of ten years, so I had my sympathy with the CentCom,” he said.

Acedillo said he personally wants CentCom to stay in its current location.

“I have been assured that it is in the interest of the Province that CentCom continues to stay where they are,” Acedillo said.

Davide also assured Acedillo that the problem on informal settlers occupying areas which are covered by military reservation will also be looked into.

During the term of former governor and now third district Representative Gwendolyn Garcia, she presented to the AFP her proposal regarding the transfer of CentCom from the province-owned property in Apas to the Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City.

In 2009, the Province of Cebu signed a memorandum of agreement with the AFP through then Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro for the transfer of the CentCom headquarters to Lapu-Lapu City.

Under the MOA, the province “shall replicate or cause to be replicated all the existing and identified buildings/facilities/structures of headquarters Centcom and its supporting units with perimeter fence at its relocation area at Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City.”

Acedillo said his visit to the Capitol yesterday was a reiteration of his support to Davide in the 2013 elections.

He said he offered to help Davide in his agenda for good governance using his experience at the Institute for Solidarity in Asia, a good governance non-government organization, before he joined the Congress. — Gregg M. Rubio/ATO (FREEMAN)