Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Edgardo Angara agreed with the general idea of relocating Camps Aguinaldo and Crame out of the densely populated metropolis.

Enrile, however, cautioned the government against rushing this move, which he said, could be fraught with legal and financial questions.

"Better to go slowly, otherwise you get into a bog,” he said.

Enrile, who served as defense minister during the Marcos regime, said that as far as he knew, Camp Aguinaldo and Camp Crame were donated by private individuals solely for military and police use.

If the government made any move to give it up, ownership would revert to the original owners, including the Ortigas family, he said.

On top of this, the government would have to address the huge costs of relocating the two camps and building new headquarters and facilities, as well as the eventual displacement of soldiers and their families, the senator said.

"They have to carefully study the legal issues and then the financial impact on the government before they go ahead with it. It's not an easy project,” he said over dwIZ.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima disclosed government plans to privatize the two camps in a bid to generate funds to modernize the military and police and pump-prime the economy.

The two camps are among the assets to be offered to prospective investors under the government's public-private partnership program.

The military maintains that the government owns the sprawling AFP property except for a portion allocated for the Ortigas family.

Angara called the proposal "excellent” but advised government lawyers to study the legal implications of such a move in view of reports that the camps were covered by a deed of donation.

"Maybe the lawyers should quickly check into the deed of donation. They have to check if there's a provision that if they use these for any other purpose, it may have to be given back to the owners,” he said in an interview.

Otherwise, the move to "demilitarize” the metropolis "is excellent,” said the senator, who chairs the education committee.

"We may be the only metropolitan city in the world that have several military camps at the heart of the city. If we can find suitable locations for our Navy, Air Force and Army, then we can modernize this badly antiquated military,” he said.

TJ Burgonio, Phil. Daily Inquirer