PMA files abuse case vs barangay chief for encroaching on camp

BAGUIO CITY –– The Philippine Military Academy (PMA) charged before the Office of the Ombudsman a village chief of Barangay Camp Allen for grave abuse of authority for constructing an extension of a barangay hall within a military facility.

Camp Allen village chief Maribelle Estacion asked the City Council on Monday (Aug. 5) to help her address the lawsuit filed in July 3 by PMA adjutant Maj. Roberto Reyes, on behalf of Lt. Gen. Ronnie Evangelista, PMA superintendent.

The PMA complaint states that “the current drive of the Armed Forces is for the preservation and consolidation of all its land holdings for its own beneficial use.”

The academy also asserts that only the Armed Forces chief of staff could authorize civilian activities within military reservations like Camp Henry T. Allen, the former Constabulary Hill that hosted PMA before and after World War II.

The complaint says Estacion had been aware of these rules which are part of the military’s anti-squatting policy for its reservations.

Estacion had requested and was denied permission to bring in construction materials in March, PMA stressed on Tuesday (Aug. 6).

However, she proceeded with construction work on the barangay hall and a waiting shed, prompting the academy to take legal action, said Maj. Reynan Afan, head of the academy’s public information office.

“Illegal mining, illegal settlements and construction activities have been perennial problems that confront PMA,” which oversees Fort del Pilar (PMA’s official home), Camp Allen and the Navy Base, and the academy is obliged to execute AFP regulations, Afan said.

But Camp Allen is officially a city barangay, populated by 2,417 residents, some of whom were former military personnel.

The extension of the barangay hall was a project financed and overseen by the city government, Estacion said when she appeared before the council. “I was doing my job,” she said.

The council has asked PMA officials to attend its August 19 session to address the lawsuit, and had requested the city legal office to defend Estacion.

This would be the second time PMA tangled with Baguio over jurisdiction inside military reservations this year, said Councilor Michael Lawana, president of the Association of Barangay Councils.

In January, members of the previous council investigated PMA’s decision to impose a 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. gate curfew at Camp Allen, which restricts vehicles, including public utility jeeps and taxis, from entering the camp once the gates close. Camp security usually closed these gates at 10 p.m.

Estacion had urged the council to intervene at a Jan. 28 council session.

Some residents expressed outrage, testifying that their elderly family members were asked to disembark from their vehicles and walk to their homes after 5 p.m.