Police station squatting on NBI lot told to move out

MANILA, Philippines—No more extensions.

A police station of the Manila Police District (MPD) has received a final notice from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to vacate the lot it has been occupying for several years to give way to the bureau’s construction of a clearance processing center.

MPD Director Chief Superintendent Roberto Rongavilla told the Inquirer on Monday that he had ordered MPD Station 5 (Ermita) personnel to move out of their headquarters on UN Avenue and move to a police outpost on Arquiza Street.

Should the outpost fail to accommodate all the policemen from Station 5, some will be deployed to the police community precinct in Rizal Park, Rongavilla said.

Rongavilla, however, added that the arrangements were only temporary and that the MPD was looking for a more suitable home for the MPD Station 5 personnel.

“We can no longer dispute the final notice to vacate but we have asked the NBI for more time to complete the station’s transfer,” Rongavilla said.

The property being claimed by the NBI is a 2,400-square-meter lot on UN Avenue.

On October 18 last year, NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula wrote to the MPD and said that the property was owned by the bureau under a land title issued on April 22,2010.

Gatdula said the NBI was planning to build a clearance processing center on the lot.

The MPD Station 5 was given until the end of last year to move out of the area although the NBI extended the deadline several times.

A portion of the property has already been converted into part of the NBI clearance processing center and as a result, long lines of people applying for a clearance have been forming in front of the police station, extending from the parking lot and onto the street.

Another MPD station, the MPD Station 6 (Sta. Ana), is also considered a squatter since the 800-sqm lot it has occupied for 70 years on Hugo Street is owned by the Sta. Ana Church.