THE Supreme Court (SC) has denied with finality a motion for reconsideration by the Navy Officers’ Village Association Inc. (Novai) of the Court’s previous decision allowing the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to take possession of the 47-hectare Novai property in Fort Bonifacio.
BCDA President Arnel Paciano D. Casanova lauded the Court for the favorable ruling that will benefit the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the national government. The Court’s Second Division denied with finality the Novai’s motion for reconsideration “with finality.”
A notice issued by the division reads: “Acting on petitioner’s motion for reconsideration of the decision dated 3 August 2015 which denied the petition for review on certiorari, the Court further resolves to deny the motion with finality, the basic issues raise therein having been duly considered and passed upon the Court in the aforesaid decision and no substantial argument having been adduced to warrant the reconsideration sought.”
“With the Supreme Court ruling, the BCDA can now proceed in disposing the 47-hectare property and generate billions of pesos to fund the Armed Forces Modernization Program and bankroll government programs and projects,” Casanova said.
He said the 475,009-square-meter Novai property is now estimated to be worth more than 47 billion, based on the current selling price of approximately P100,000 per sq m.
It would be recalled that Casanova had personally pursued the Novai case “with the help of honorable and professional officers of the Armed Forces and the Office of the Solicitor General.”
Novai is a group of retired military officers which claimed ownership of the disputed property located inside the former Fort Andres Bonifacio Military Reservation.
Casanova was general counsel for the BCDA when the latter filed a complaint in the court against military generals involved in illegal settlements inside military-reservation areas.
“Rampant land grabbing, where officers are involved, affects the morale of our soldiers, and eventually weakens our Armed Forces,” Casanova said.
“As early as 2004 and as general counsel then, I made a commitment to the Feliciano Commission that I will do my best to pursue the cases against Southside Homeowners Association [SHAI] and Novai, in spite of some generals who kept on dissuading us from doing so,” Casanova said, referring to the commission’s report that recommended legal action for the recovery of the Joint US Military Advisory Group area and Novai properties.
“My mission for the Feliciano Commission is now accomplished,” he added.
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