The Philippine Navy last week sought the help of the provincial government of Catanduanes in acquiring land for its proposed Forward Operating Base in Panay island, Bagamanoc.
Captain Salvador Lavapie Jr. (PN), commander of Naval Task Force 31 (NTF-31) and chairman of the Technical Working Group (TWG) Forward Operating Base (FOB) Catanduanes, made the call in paying a courtesy call on Gov. Joseph Cua last Mar. 1, 2022 at the Capitol.
The Navy has proposed the construction of the base facing the Pacific Ocean for its ground, air, and naval assets, including renovation of the dilapidated pier on the said area that shall cater to ships deployed in the eastern seaboard of the country.
According to the Naval Forces Southern Luzon (NAVFORSOL), the initiative is in line with Armed Forces of the Philippine’s constitutional mandate of protecting the people, securing the sovereignty of the State, and the integrity of the national territory.
It added that this also exhibits the NAVFORSOL’s commitment and intent to protect and secure the territorial waters of Bicol and Southern Luzon against foreign adversaries, invaders, or intruders.
The team discussed with Gov. Cua the proposed location as well as the contribution of the provincial government in the creation of the FOB.
They stressed that the former US Coast Guard Loran Station is a better loc than Polilio island off Quezon province, and if things go according to plan, the proposed FOB will be good for implementation by 2023.
What they need from the provincial government, a Capitol source said, is to facilitate the donation or titling of the required five-hectare land for the FOB in the name of the Philippine Navy.
It may be recalled that in June 2021, then Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. of the Philippine Army’s Southern Luzon Command, Commodore Jose Ma. Ambrosio Ezpeleta of Naval Forces Southern Luzon, and Maj. Gen. Henry Robinson Jr. of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division, accompanied by their staff, set foot on the former USCG Long Range Navigation station a day after meeting with the governor.
The three generals’ arrived on board a Huey helicopter, with a Navy patrol craft anchoring off the old port at the northwestern side of the island that afternoon to begin conducting a hydrographic survey.
The survey was intended to determine whether the relatively shallow Babaguan Bay separating Panay from the main island is capable of hosting Navy vessels.
In the meeting with Cua, Lt. Gen. Parlade had vowed to the naval base project at the former LORAN site and the old berthing facility.
The project was supposed to be prioritized for presentation as a package to the Regional Development Council.
It may be recalled that sometime before 2019, the Philippine Coast Guard secured funding for its proposed P500 million training facility at the same site, with an initial P150 million allocated by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for the construction of several buildings and awarded to a contractor from Mindanao.
The contractor, however, was unable to begin the project due to a dispute with the heirs of the original owner of the five-hectare land on which the LORAN facility sits.
It is claimed that the PCG allegedly proceeded with the project on the assumption that the land was theirs as the facility was turned over to them by the US Coast Guard in 1971.
Reports also stated that the impasse prompted the PCG to transfer the proposed base and training facility another site.
According to a member of the Villena family that owns the LORAN land, the visiting AFP generals discussed the proposed development of the site with Florenia Arcilla Bonifacio, one of the surviving heirs of the landowner.
When asked as to when this would start, Lt. Gen. Parlade remarked that if that LORAN site was government-owned, it would have been easier.
But since it is privately-owned, the AFP would have to negotiate with the representative of the heirs, he stated.
Mrs. Bonifacio’s son, Raul, gave the contact number of their representative, Manila-based lawyer Ernesto Cabrera, to the general.
In a phone interview with the Tribune at the time, Raul disclosed that his father, who died six years ago, worked as an assistant cook while his mother was assigned in the laundry during the entire time that the US Coast Guard operated the facility from 1953 to 1971.
Erected under the Military Bases Agreement signed by then President Manual Roxas and US High Commissioner Paul McNutt, the station consisted of seven buildings and two concrete water tanks and was manned by 21 personnel tasked with providing navigation guidance to US battleships. Submarines and airplanes.
The American government did not pay any rental for the property and only paid the Villenas remuneration for crops and trees affected in its construction.
In fact, he said, the USCG gave his mother a document allowing her to travel to the United States without securing a visa in recognition of the work she did at the time.
When the Americans left in 1971, the facility was taken over by the PCG, which also shut it down in 1977.
The Bonifacio family began occupying the facilities, converting one of the rooms into their home and planting crops and raising chickens in their land.
Raul does not object to the possible use of the land and the facility by the Philippine Navy, as long as appropriate compensation is paid along with the assurance that members of the heirs’ families could be employed.
He also said that if that time comes, he hopes the national government would be compassionate enough to relocate him, his mother and a nephew to another home on Panay island.