Legarda calls for thorough review of BCDA charter

Some Senators on Friday called for a thorough review of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), months before charter renewal to take place by 2026.

During the Senate plenary session on Friday, Senator Loren Legarda had pointed out that there seemed to be irregular remittances from the BCDA to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

In 2025, she noted that the Bureau of Treasury had received a P35.75 Billion remittance, of which the AFP was able to utilize P28.37 Billion.

According to the DND, the budget had been used for procuring technologies and equipment to “enhance and to develop our capability.”

Despite this, DND shared that the BCDA objectives were not actually being met.

“The collection, as you have noted, are dismal despite the assets that were transferred to the BCDA. We all know the assets are all prime assets. On top of that, there are issues on the reconciliation of records, there are issues also of transparency of contracts,” said Senator Sherwin Gatchalian.

“Ang objective kasi ng BCDA, kunin yung kampo, idevelop yung kampo, ibigay sa AFP for modernization. It seems to be not being achieved and there also lack of transparency in that case,” he added.

Gatchalian recommended that the Senate “take note of the missed objectives of BCDA” and to thoroughly scrutinize any BCDA issues that come up in the senate, especially with the charter renewal set to take place by 2026.

He also reiterated DND’s position against the renewal of the charter, stating that AFP would rather regain full control of their remaining military camps in the interest of national security.

“The whole point of creating those entities including BCDA is [that AFP] should earn their own money or their own revenue and build their own projects, but at the same time also remit the dividends to the AFP modernization. So really, we need to review the entire concept of BCDA and also look at the bigger picture because those are strategic assets. You cannot replace them anymore. They might have commercial value, but we must also look at the national security interest of the country in relation to those assets,” he shared.

“If this was a failure and it has caused the AFP irreplaceable strategic assets, before it is renewed there must be a clear inventory and audit of that because we owe it to our AFP. It belongs to them, so dapat ibigay sa kanila (so it should be given to them)… There should be a clear inventory because it belongs to them and we must gove it to them at the proper time with clear remittances,” Legarda added.

In April 2025, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had vetoed an amendment bill seeking to increase P100 billion in the budget for the BCDA charter.

He noted that he recognized the “noble intention” behind the requested increase but shared that he could not ignore concerns raised by other affected national agencies.

BCDA, last March, announced that they earned P1 Billion in investments through lease agreements after taking control of Baguio’s Camp John Hay

They shared that they aimed to hit P10 Billion in investments by selling over 70-hectares of “untapped land” to the private sector. — BAP, GMA Integrated News