“The Philippine Navy does not maintain the quarters. It has no money for that,” he added.
“Humiliated”
Out of the 73 original homeowners, only 15 are now left in the village. The 56 owners were forcibly evicted on May 20 while two left voluntarily. Advincula and the 14 others who are staying put at the BNS are the named individual petitioners in the temporary injunction order from the Supreme Court.
Advincula however said the petitioners included the NOVAI. Therefore, he said, the injunction order covers all members of the NOVAI making the eviction last Saturday illegal.
“I broke down upon seeing my colleagues humiliated that way,” he said.
“Pinakita lang nila na kaya nilang gawin yan,” (It was a demonstration of what they can do) he added. “Next time it would be easier for them to do it to others.”
“If they can do this to Navy officers, how much more to ordinary civilians?” asked Advincula’s wife. “Hindi na ako nagtataka kung bakit madaming militar ang accused of human rights violations,” (I am no longer surprised that many soldiers are accused of committing human rights violations) she added.
“The NOVAI members under fire are all retired but in their time, they served the government the best way they could. It is not fair to have their rights trampled upon and their decency shred into pieces,” Advincula said.
“The cases against NOVAI are in the courts. Let the law take its course. But if they force us out we will fight and we will go down fighting,” he said. (Bulatlat.com)
