Tension grips John Hay as BCDA insists on takeover

MANILA, Philippines - Tension is gripping Camp John Hay in Baguio City due to the insistence of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to unilaterally take over a 247-hectare portion of the former American rest and recreation base that it had leased to private developer Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJHDevCo) despite a court order preventing it from doing so.

An officer of the security agency tapped by CJHDevCo to guard the contested facilities bared an alleged plan of the BCDA and its subsidiary, John Hay Management Corp. (JHMC), to use force in effecting the takeover despite pending legal issues.

Albert Escalderon, chief of Warbird Security Agency, said they have gathered reliable information about the supposed plan of BCDA and JHMC “to forcibly take over the entire leased premises.”

“Our main concern is that your security guards posted within the John Hay premises were ordered to shoot anybody who would stand in the way during the forcible takeover by BCDA and JHMC,” Escalderon said in a letter to Placido Urbanes III, general manager of the Catalina Security Agency hired by the government agency.

Escalderon informed his counterpart of the writ of preliminary injunction recently issued by Judge Cleto Villacorta of Baguio City Regional Trial Court Branch 6 stopping the BCDA from taking over the leased properties.