FORT RAMON MAGSAYSAY, Nueva Ecija
– This military reservation, home of the Army’s 7th Infantry
Division, continues to shrink in size and is now down to almost one-half of its
original size owing to the issuance of various presidential proclamations and
the intrusion of thousands of informal settlers.
Brig.
Gen. Vic Castro, acting 7th ID commanding general, told a press
briefing that the reservation is now down to 45,837 hectares from a high of
73,000 when it was first established pursuant to Presidential Decree 237 on
December 19,1955.
Castro
said they are now looking into various ways and means to somehow recover and
retain its land area amid the different proclamations, claims and other issues
confronting the military reservation.
“We
are now looking into the different proclamations, directives and reviewing
them. Of course there are areas we can no longer recover. And we refer other
claims to the Office of the SolGen (Solicitor General),” he said.
He
said their goal at present is to be able to undertake maximum utilization of
the areas spanning the reservation amid the various claims and counter-claims.
Captain
Robert Reyes, division adjutant, said some other areas have already been
segregated as settlement for victims of the Mt.
Pinatubo eruptions involving 3,100
hectares in a sitio in the municipality
of Laur
“These
3,100 hectares are now the subject of a review and we need further study,” he
said.
Reyes
said that the situation is worsened by the proliferation of informal settlers.
He said they are proposing for two relocation sites to house the informal
settlers who have grown to 15,000 individuals.
The
presence of these informal settlers have been setting back efforts to fully
develop the reservation.
Castro
said that they are planning to turn portions of the reservation into a vast
area for agriculture production, including 3,000 hectares for bamboo
plantation.
A proposed land
use plan also intends to set up a logistics center, an economic and industrial
zone, eco-tourism area, reforestation area, a plantation area for fruit-bearing
and non-fruit bearing trees, a livestock and vegetable area and 240 hectares
for the proposed transfer of the National Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa
to this camp.
Also being eyed
is the construction of a hangar/warehouse for stockpiling of relief goods and
other rescue support.
The proposed
site for the NBP is in Barangay Nazareth, Gen. Tinio town.
On April
10,2013, then-commanding general and now Northern Luzon
(Nolcom) commanding general, Lt. Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang and Bureau of
Corrections director Franklin Bucayu surveyed three possible sites for the NBP,
two in Nazareth and one in Canantong, Laur.
“These
are just proposals at this point but we intend to pursue them if we can,”
Castro said. – Manny Galvez
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