BCDA exec shrugs off 'another harassment case'

MANILA, Philippines - Lawyer Arnel Paciano Casanova, president and CEO of Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), yesterday shrugged off the recent P100-million libel case filed against him as “another harassment case.”

Casanova added that he was only stating facts in his efforts to protect public interest in the Camp John Hay dispute.

“I was only stating facts,” Casanova said after learning that lawyer Frank Chavez, legal counsel of the Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJHDevCo) filed the libel case in Pasig City.

Casanova said his office has not yet received a copy of the complaint.

The libel suit against Casanova is the fifth of a series of charges filed by CJHDevCo against BCDA officials in the past two months.

 “I know my law,” he said in a statement, “and there is nothing in my statements that is libelous.”

“Each week, a new case is being filed against me and the BCDA board of directors,” Casanova said. “This is an obvious ploy to prolong their stay in John Hay, to the detriment of the government and the Filipino people.”

For his part, BCDA chairman Felicito Payumo refuted the statement of CJHDevCo that BCDA did not allow its officials to present their proposal a day before the lease contract was terminated.

He said the BCDA board had in fact allowed the CJHDevCo executives to submit their payment proposal. 

“But what CJHDevCo submitted was not a payment proposal but a change of the present lease contract into a joint venture, extending the period from the original lease period of 1996 to 2021, all the way up to 2061. Needless to say, there was nothing to discuss,” he said.