Landowners say NGCP ‘running roughshod’ over their rights

A GOVERNMENT soldier holds fragments of the bomb that toppled this electric transmission tower on Jan. 13, 2015, in Pagalungan town, Maguindanao province. The firm that maintains the transmission facilities is currently embroiled in a right-of-way conflict involving parcels of land where its towers stand. FERDINAND CABRERA/CONTRIBUTOR

DAVAO CITY—A group of landowners, which includes singer and composer Danny Javier of the iconic trio Apo Hiking Society, is crying foul over what the landowners said was encroachment into their lands by a power transmission firm without due process and compensation.

“They’re running roughshod over us,” Javier said in a phone interview with the Inquirer.

But the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), the company that maintains electricity transmission lines, said the entry of the NGCP into the lots, which were being used as sites of transmission towers, was legal and made through a writ of possession issued by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 23 of Sarangani province.

Edmundo Cejar, one of the landowners who also represents Javier through a special power of attorney, said the landowners did not intend to fight a court order, especially if it was for a project for the benefit of the public.

“What we are asking for is proper court procedure,” said Cejar, who also represents landowners Edgar Cejar and Josephine Icogot.

Cejar said the lots that he, Javier and the other landowners owned had been trespassed by NGCP workers.

“They’re allowing the Chinese to invade the Philippines, not only in Spratlys but also in Mindanao,” said Javier, referring to the 40-percent ownership of the NGCP by the State Grid of China, a Chinese government-owned power company.

“It’s worse than during the colonial times,” Javier said.

Cejar said the landowners were not informed ahead before NGCP workers “barged into our property and cut down our trees and crops.”

The land, Cejar said, is still being assessed for just compensation.

Cejar said a commission assigned by the court on Sept. 28 last year was supposed to convene to proceed with the inspection and assessment of the value of the land.

“So we are asking the NGCP to at least wait until the commission is convened and does its assigned task,” Cejar said.

Cejar said the landowners were surprised when NGCP workers entered their land without their consent and cut over a dozen coconut and other trees.

“The first time they did it was without asking permission from us,” Cejar said.

He said NGCP representatives, during a dialogue in the presence of Malungon Mayor Reynaldo Constantino, had agreed to put the project on hold “until the commission has done its evaluation.”

In a press conference, NGCP spokesperson Milfrance Capulong said Cejar had already accepted a deposit of P500,000, “which is considered partial payment” for the land.

She said RTC Branch 23 of Sarangani had already issued a writ of possession allowing the NGCP “to enter and place in possession and acquire an easement of right-of-way over the property of Cejar.”

The NGCP is putting up a 138-kilovolt transmission line in Malungon, Sarangani, that will connect the power grid in Matanao, Davao del Sur, and General Santos City. Since the power lines will crisscross several private lands, the NGCP will have to buy out portions of the land from their owners.

Cejar said the landowners did not oppose the project.

“We are 100 percent in our support for the project because it will safeguard the supply of electricity in Sarangani and benefit everyone,” Cejar said in an interview.

“It is disheartening for us, because it’s not just money and time we invested on planting the trees but also emotion,” Cejar said.

Another landowner, Mark Pacheco, said the NGCP also cut down decades-old mango trees and over a dozen coconut trees without asking permission to enter his land.

“We don’t oppose the project, but they must show respect,” he said. Dennis Jay Santos, Inquirer Mindanao, with a report from Tina Arceo-Dumlao in Manila