ANGELES CITY- An official of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) who is being cited by Cavite Rep. Crispin Remulla on controversies on the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), broke his silence yesterday by justifying the project’s cost and clearing Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino of any involvement in the project’s coverage of Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac.
“Everything was aboveboard in land acquisitions and I don’t even think that Sen. Aquino was aware of the negotiations from 2003 to 2004 on land valuation with BCDA on areas affected in Hacienda Luisita,” said retired Brig. Gen. Robert Gervacio, BCDA’s program manager for SCTEx’s operational and support services.
“As far as I know, there had been no contact between the BCDA and Sen. Aquino in regard to the negotiations on land valuation,” he stressed, but noted that his agency’s land acquisition team had negotiated with Pedro Cojuangco as president of the Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI).
Gervacio also debunked allegations that right-of-way acquisitions had bloated the cost of the 93.77-kilometer project to as high as P33 billion as alleged by Remulla, an ally of presidential aspirant Sen. Manuel Villar.
“The fact is that our allocation for the cost of acquiring all lands to be affected by SCTEx was P900 million. We have paid landowners only P600 million so far and the remaining P300 million is very much intact,” he said.
Gervacio stressed that the P900 million is not part of the loan obtained for the project from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). “The acquisition cost is the counterpart fund of the Philippine government in the project,” he clarified.
Gervacio noted that the SCTEx project was mapped out way back in 1995 and its construction started 10 years later in 2005. “We just can’t apply the cost estimate in 1995 to a project that was implemented 10 years after. The cost simply had already gone up,” he said.
During the House oversight committee hearing recently, Remulla claimed that the Cojuangco and Aquino family which owns Hacienda Luisita, earned huge compensation from the BCDA’s payment of hacienda lands traversed by the SCTEx.
Remulla said that the BCDA paid the Cojuangco and Aquino families P100 per square meter for the 83 hectares of land covered by the SCTEx in the hacienda, and that the alleged actual value of sugarland is supposed to be only P6 to P8 per square meter.
He also said the SCTEx interchange at Hacienda Luisita was built for the private use of the Cojuangcos and Aquinos and had bloated the cost of the entire project by P12 billion to P32.8 billion from its original cost of P21.39 billion.
Remulla cited Gervacio as source of his figures, although some published reports identified Gervacio as Robert Geronimo while also erroneously tagging him as general manager of the BCDA. “Yes, I think I was the one being cited. They (Remulla’s camp) requested from my office a report on payments made relative to the SCTEx project,” Gervacio said.
Gervacio said, however, that the SCTEx interchange at Hacienda Luisita was an essential component of the SCTEx and was never designed to accommodate hacienda owners.
“One of the basic reasons for the project is to link up the seaport at Subic, the international airport at Clark, and the industrial park which happens to be located at Hacienda Luisita. The Luisita industrial park is host to many investors, including Japanese, who once used the old MacArthur Highway but now enjoy the efficiency of the SCTEX. It’s all part of the plan to transform Central Luzon into an Asian economic hub,” he said.
Gervacio explained that the P100 per square meter paid to Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) was approved by the BCDA board “in accordance with our mode of procurement which was uniformly applied in all areas affected by the project.”
“Our first option is to have an agreement with the affected landowners. If we do not succeed in this, we assert the government’s right to eminent domain, go to court and file expropriation proceedings,” he said.
He said that in the case of Hacienda Luisita, the P100 per-square-meter approved by the BCDA board was higher than the property’s zonal value but lower than the value appraised by the Development Bank of the Philippines.
“I don’t think it would be realistic to use the zonal value standards of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) which would otherwise put land value for right-of-way acquisitions from P6 to P12 per square meter. Imagine if we paid affected farmers that much for their farmlands. They would certainly rebel,” he said.
Gervacio also said that negotiations with landowners was upheld as the best option in land acquisition as he cited a case in Concepcion, Tarlac in which the local court imposed P300 per square meter on an affected land, higher than the BCDA proposal of P100.
“Expropriation proceedings in courts would also have delayed the project,” he added.
Gervacio stressed that the BCDA comes out with its proposed value of affected lands based on studies by its geodetic engineer and on the landowners’ tax declarations. “The estimated value differs according to the location. Industrial and residential lands near highways cost more than remote areas with nothing but cogon,” he said.
He also stressed that the P100 per- square -meter cost paid by BCDA to HLI regarded the affected lands as “raw” and thus did not cover payments for improvements such as planted crops.
“The actual payment to HLI was P75 million, as we already deducted from the entire P80 million cost the P5 million that BCDA had to pay as capital gains tax to the BIR,” he noted.
“Everything was aboveboard in land acquisitions and I don’t even think that Sen. Aquino was aware of the negotiations from 2003 to 2004 on land valuation with BCDA on areas affected in Hacienda Luisita,” said retired Brig. Gen. Robert Gervacio, BCDA’s program manager for SCTEx’s operational and support services.
“As far as I know, there had been no contact between the BCDA and Sen. Aquino in regard to the negotiations on land valuation,” he stressed, but noted that his agency’s land acquisition team had negotiated with Pedro Cojuangco as president of the Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI).
Gervacio also debunked allegations that right-of-way acquisitions had bloated the cost of the 93.77-kilometer project to as high as P33 billion as alleged by Remulla, an ally of presidential aspirant Sen. Manuel Villar.
“The fact is that our allocation for the cost of acquiring all lands to be affected by SCTEx was P900 million. We have paid landowners only P600 million so far and the remaining P300 million is very much intact,” he said.
Gervacio stressed that the P900 million is not part of the loan obtained for the project from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). “The acquisition cost is the counterpart fund of the Philippine government in the project,” he clarified.
Gervacio noted that the SCTEx project was mapped out way back in 1995 and its construction started 10 years later in 2005. “We just can’t apply the cost estimate in 1995 to a project that was implemented 10 years after. The cost simply had already gone up,” he said.
During the House oversight committee hearing recently, Remulla claimed that the Cojuangco and Aquino family which owns Hacienda Luisita, earned huge compensation from the BCDA’s payment of hacienda lands traversed by the SCTEx.
Remulla said that the BCDA paid the Cojuangco and Aquino families P100 per square meter for the 83 hectares of land covered by the SCTEx in the hacienda, and that the alleged actual value of sugarland is supposed to be only P6 to P8 per square meter.
He also said the SCTEx interchange at Hacienda Luisita was built for the private use of the Cojuangcos and Aquinos and had bloated the cost of the entire project by P12 billion to P32.8 billion from its original cost of P21.39 billion.
Remulla cited Gervacio as source of his figures, although some published reports identified Gervacio as Robert Geronimo while also erroneously tagging him as general manager of the BCDA. “Yes, I think I was the one being cited. They (Remulla’s camp) requested from my office a report on payments made relative to the SCTEx project,” Gervacio said.
Gervacio said, however, that the SCTEx interchange at Hacienda Luisita was an essential component of the SCTEx and was never designed to accommodate hacienda owners.
“One of the basic reasons for the project is to link up the seaport at Subic, the international airport at Clark, and the industrial park which happens to be located at Hacienda Luisita. The Luisita industrial park is host to many investors, including Japanese, who once used the old MacArthur Highway but now enjoy the efficiency of the SCTEX. It’s all part of the plan to transform Central Luzon into an Asian economic hub,” he said.
Gervacio explained that the P100 per square meter paid to Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) was approved by the BCDA board “in accordance with our mode of procurement which was uniformly applied in all areas affected by the project.”
“Our first option is to have an agreement with the affected landowners. If we do not succeed in this, we assert the government’s right to eminent domain, go to court and file expropriation proceedings,” he said.
He said that in the case of Hacienda Luisita, the P100 per-square-meter approved by the BCDA board was higher than the property’s zonal value but lower than the value appraised by the Development Bank of the Philippines.
“I don’t think it would be realistic to use the zonal value standards of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) which would otherwise put land value for right-of-way acquisitions from P6 to P12 per square meter. Imagine if we paid affected farmers that much for their farmlands. They would certainly rebel,” he said.
Gervacio also said that negotiations with landowners was upheld as the best option in land acquisition as he cited a case in Concepcion, Tarlac in which the local court imposed P300 per square meter on an affected land, higher than the BCDA proposal of P100.
“Expropriation proceedings in courts would also have delayed the project,” he added.
Gervacio stressed that the BCDA comes out with its proposed value of affected lands based on studies by its geodetic engineer and on the landowners’ tax declarations. “The estimated value differs according to the location. Industrial and residential lands near highways cost more than remote areas with nothing but cogon,” he said.
He also stressed that the P100 per- square -meter cost paid by BCDA to HLI regarded the affected lands as “raw” and thus did not cover payments for improvements such as planted crops.
“The actual payment to HLI was P75 million, as we already deducted from the entire P80 million cost the P5 million that BCDA had to pay as capital gains tax to the BIR,” he noted.
