Clash between Army men in Taguig demolition looms

A violent confrontation looms in Taguig as "squatting soldiers" and Army men backing up demolition crews meet head on at a place in a military reservation ironically dedicated to fallen soldiers of the country.

Longtime residents of the Libingan ng mga Bayani are expected to resist being evicted from their homes. "We expect the soldiers here to resist, but they would be battling their own fellow soldiers if that would be the case," said Taguig Municipal Administrator Wilfredo Villar.

Villar said that he met with the Philippine Army’s Task Force Bantay Bayan head Col. Felipe Pilapil to coordinate the deployment of his men in the demolition requested by the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA).

The same Army Task Force, in full battle gear and numbering in the hundreds, provided back up security to hundreds of demolition crewmen and policemen who removed squatters within 15 meters from the Circumferential Road 5 (C5) for a road-widening project.

The area, near the Heritage Park, is home to about 1,000 families of soldiers. No shooting though has so far erupted from the C5 demolition except for throwing of stones and improvised bombs.

The demolition in the area, not far from the Libingan ng Mga Bayani, enters its fourth day today with soldier-residents threatening to take up arms to protect their homes.

Taguig Mayor Freddie Tinga, however, is said to have intervened to prevent further violence.

"The entire area will be taken," said Villar referring to the 20-hectare site where soldiers have put up their homes, many of them of concrete and some erected decades back.

The demolition have been undertaken in the past but none as extensive as the one expected tomorrow. Shots were fired in past demolitions.

Villar said the demolition would start from the C5 Road. Villar said, however, that a relocation site has been provided for the families to be evicted but only for those who are part of the 1998 and 2000 census made by the BCDA. – Jose Aravilla