THE modernization of Naga Airport in the town of Pili, Camarines Sur, is among the infrastructure projects of the Duterte administration’s centerpiece “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) program. But the unexpected strong opposition of Rep. Rolando G. Andaya Jr. of the First District of Camarines Sur to the project dashed the hopes of CamSur folk and the business sector in the Bicol region, who expected their airport to get a much-needed upgrade. Andaya is a stalwart of the administration party, PDP-Laban, in Bicolandia and former budget secretary under the Arroyo administration.
The modernization of Naga Airport took an unexpected turn when, even before the clearing operations for the airport improvement could start in Barangay San Agustin in Pili, Andaya and his bodyguards, accompanied by the town mayor, reportedly stormed the site and tried to drive away members of CamSur’s Sagip Kalikasan Task Force (SKTF), who were manning the area.
According to testimonies obtained by the police from the SKTF members, Andaya started shouting and asking them what they were doing in the area. He and his bodyguards were said to have pushed and shoved people, and some SKTF members had their cell phones, handheld radios and other belongings confiscated by Andaya and his men.
Eleven of the SKTF members trooped to the nearby Pili Municipal Police Station to report Andaya’s unruly behavior and to seek police protection. Andaya rushed to the Pili Municipal Police Station after learning that several SKTF members were there to report to the police their encounter with the lawmaker. Andaya became even more enraged upon learning that Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. of the Second District of Camarines Sur was also at the police station. TV cameras were present when Andaya rushed to the police station, and a video of his tirade that has since gone viral on social media showed Andaya hurling insults at somebody outside camera range and challenging him to a fight. The object of Andaya’s outburst off camera was Villafuerte.
Bicolanos did not expect such behavior from one who is supposed to be an honorable member of Congress, a lawyer by profession and a former Cabinet official.
One question begging for an answer is why Andaya barged into the airport project site to stop workers from proceeding with the clearing operations when Pili is in the third district of CamSur, which is out of his jurisdiction because he represents the first district. And since Andaya is now a member of PDP-Laban, he is expected to support the administration’s investment-friendly and job-generation initiatives, of which the Naga airport-modernization project is a good example.
The provincial government of CamSur has been overseeing the implementation of the Naga Airport Development Project on the strength of its Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) in November 2016.
Under the MOA, the DOTr has committed to set aside P402 million for the airport project, to be taken from the DOTr’s budget in the General Appropriations Act of 2015. The allocation included funds for the acquisition of the lots of the affected residents and their resettlement.
The provincial government, in turn, has been tasked under the MOA to identify the affected residents and to supervise the purchase of their lots based on the principle of just compensation and their resettlement.
“The development of airports has been included among the priority projects of the national government, and this includes the development and reorientation of Naga Airport to serve the Metro Naga and the Province of Camarines Sur, including its influence area,” the MOA stated.
“The funding requirement for the Naga Airport Development Project, including cost for land acquisition and resettlement, will be sourced from allotments under the General Appropriations Act of CY 2015 budget of the DOTr,” the MOA said.
Moreover, Branch 32 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Pili already issued on July 5, 2017, a Writ of Possession ordering the affected residents not to exercise their rights over their lots and to vacate these in favor of the DOTr project.
Even before the court’s issuance of this writ, the province started negotiating three years ago with the concerned farmers and their tenants and even with informal settlers on the expropriation of their lands.
In fact, a majority of the affected ones had already formally decided to turn over their lots to the provincial government, while several others agreed in principle to do so and were just awaiting the court’s decision on the “just compensation” for their lots.
It was learned that the provincial government has even opted to pay both the landowners and the tenants who have been tilling the affected lots to speed up the expropriation process and settle the issue amicably.
In a resolution dated May 2, 2018, the presiding judge of Branch 32 of the RTC in Pili dismissed the motion of some lot owners who wanted to stop the execution of the writ of possession. Judge Vivencio Gregorio Atutubo III made it clear in this resolution that: “Wherefore, premises considered, the Defendants’ motions to dismiss and to recall the writ of possession are denied for lack of merit.”
The court’s ruling is a major victory for the vast numbers of supporters of the Naga airport-improvement project, as it affirms the legality of the writ.
In the resolution, Atutubo ordered the plaintiff, CamSur Gov. Miguel Luis Villafuerte, to “desist” or stop from implementing the writ in the meantime for the sole reason that the solicitor general should be the proper “party-in-interest” to represent the DOTr in the case because it involves a national government project. In short, the Court merely wanted the complaint amended to reflect the proper plaintiff in the case, which is the DOTr through the Office of the Solicitor General.
Rep. Villafuerte pointed out that the judge’s ruling “is a big victory for the people of CamSur because it affirms that the Naga airport project will continue and, more important be put on the fast track.”
“The court order just affirmed that the Naga airport project will proceed,” said Villafuerte, pointing out that the MOA between the DOTr and the provincial government is “still in effect and in force.”
Undersecretary Marvel Clavecilla, Presidential Adviser on Bicol Affairs, has also defended the project and criticized local politicians who are using farmers whose lands were expropriated for the Naga Airport Expansion Project to advance their own political agenda. He emphasized the urgency for the government to fast-track this facility upgrade in pursuit of President Duterte’s BBB program.
E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.