MANILA, Philippines--The excavator bucket was like a claw poised to strike but employees of the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC) in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, stood their ground against a demolition team Wednesday morning.

Earlier, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) ordered the PPSC, which conducts mandatory training for police, fire and jail personnel, to move out of the area by Nov. 5 and relocate to a temporary site.

The order was in line with a joint venture agreement between the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and a consortium of Megaworld Corp. for the development of the 7.1-hectare property where the PPSC central office is located.

Pacifico Talplacido, spokesperson of the PPSC Employees Association, said that although they were not opposed to the relocation, they wanted it deferred to give the school enough time to find a new site suitable for training.

The PPSC compound houses the National Police College (NPC) and National Forensic Science Training Institute (NFSTI) which conduct training programs for policemen and fire and jail management personnel.

Standoff

At 6:15 a.m. Wednesday, around 70 PPSC employees blocked the main gate and held their ground as three excavators dug up the road leading to the school.

A team from the Southern Police District and Taguig police force stood between the PPSC employees and demolition team members, ready to step in should trouble erupt.

“Those policemen are graduates of this school and yet they’re helping out in the demolition of this institution,” Alfredo Quilapio, a PPSC staffer, said in Filipino.

In an interview with the Inquirer, Taguig police chief, Senior Supt. Camilo Cascolan, said, “We are here to provide police assistance. There is an order for them to move out and police visibility was ordered to prevent illegal actions.”

Pleasant memories

However, he declined to comment on Quilapio’s observation. He only said that he has pleasant memories of the time he spent at the PPSC and that the training programs it has been conducting are important to the police.

At one point, some PPSC employees attempted to stop the diggings by trying to pull down the pants of an excavator operator. Later on, several women who were standing at the edge of the trench created by the excavator hurled a challenge at the operator of the heavy equipment.

“Sige! Sige! Pag ako nahulog dito, lagot ka (Go on! Go on! If I fall down, you’ll be held responsible),” one of them said as she wagged a finger at the operator.

An hour later, the excavators left the area after digging up the area surrounding the school, leaving it virtually isolated.

Talplacido said they were considering taking legal steps such as asking for a restraining order or filing a taxpayer’s suit.

Rogelio Asignado, PPSC vice president for administration, expressed sadness over the school’s demolition, saying there was a graduation ceremony scheduled Thursday for some 300 students.

PPSC executive director Ruben Platon, meanwhile, said the demolition should be put on hold until the school buildings have been appraised by the Commission on Audit.

According to him, the Taguig City assessor’s office conservatively valued the PPSC buildings at P98 million.

In an official statement, PPSC employees said they were ready to vacate the premises as soon as a suitable relocation site is provided by the BCDA-DILG-Napolcom.

They added that they wanted the training structures and facilities to be replicated “to maintain the integrity and viability of the PPSC so that it can continue working on its training programs.”

Earlier, the Makati City inspection team declared the school’s temporary transfer site—the PET Plans annex building on Edsa—“unfit for use” since it was already condemned.

Talplacido said another proposed site, the Local Government Academy (LGA) in Los Baños, Laguna, was too small for the school’s training needs. The LGA has only three classrooms which can accommodate 200 people.

In a letter to Napolcom which owns the tract of land on which the college stands, PPSC president Margarita Cojuangco said the permanent transfer site should have the following facilities: 12 classrooms for NPC, eight classrooms for NFSTI, dormitories good for 800 people, a mess hall for 800 people, a multipurpose hall which can accommodate 1,000 persons, a parade ground that can accommodate 800, space for staff quarters, a 2,000-sq m parking space and a 3,000-sq m office space.