BCDA sends own security in John Hay

BAGUIO CITY—The squabbles affecting Camp John Hay here have taken several odd turns this week.

On Thursday, the state agency governing this former American rest and recreation area accused the security agency hired by the John Hay developer of squatting, the latest in a debt feud that has been going on for 15 years now.

Arnel Paciano Casanova, president of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), said the agency would deploy its own security personnel to curb squatting at Camp John Hay.

Casanova, who was here on Friday for a media tour, directed the Warbird Security and Investigation Agency (Warbird) to dismantle what he described as “stealthily-constructed [and] rundown shanties within the John Hay Special Economic Zone” where security personnel allegedly reside with their families, their dogs and their chickens without BCDA’s consent.

Warbird has been hired by the Fil Estate-owned Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJHDevco) to secure the leased John Hay properties. CJHDevco has sought arbitration after BCDA demanded payments amounting to P3 billion in rentals.

Alfredo Yñiguez III, CJHDevco executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the firm “will not dignify” this latest attack against it.

Last month, however, Yñiguez obtained a temporary restraining order against BCDA from a Baguio regional trial court to prevent an alleged government takeover plan of the John Hay development area.

He claimed that over 300 security personnel hired by BCDA had massed up at a hotel on Marcos Highway last month, apparently to mount the takeover.

Casanova denied the allegations.

In a statement, he said the government chastised CJHDevco and Warbird “for the unauthorized and illegal construction of the shanties … through several letters in January informing them of their violation, specifically, Section 301 of the National Building Code (or Presidential Decree No. 1096) which states that ‘no person, firm or corporation, including agency or instrumentality of the government, shall erect, construct, alter, repair, move, convert or demolish any building or structure, or cause the same to be done without first obtaining a building permit.’”

The government company running Camp John Hay is also dealing with its own issues.

On Friday, employees of the John Hay Management Corp (JHMC), BCDA’s estate manager, claimed that evidence against their president had been stolen.

These employees complained to President Aquino and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales last year that JHMC president, Jamie Eloise Agbayani,  allegedly misused company funds.

Lawyer Nelson Gayo, the employees’ counsel, said “vital pieces of evidence against Agbayani have gone missing from the JHMC finance department.”

Gayo said the employees were recently reinstated after serving a few days of suspension mandated allegedly by the JHMC management. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon