MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte is considering filing economic sabotage charges against the owners of broadsheet Philippine Daily Inquirer, whom he accused of illegally occupying a government property in Makati.
Duterte said the owners of the newspaper should immediately surrender the Mile Long property to the government so he can use it to build houses for the poor.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer itself is not involved in the dispute over the Mile Long property.
“If I could prove, which I am studying now, that it’s economic sabotage, then I will file cases against them for economic sabotage. Then I will not allow bail. Makatikim rin sila, ang mga mayaman once in their life, makapasok sila ng presuhan (These rich people can experience life in jail),” Duterte said during the 113th anniversary of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in Quezon City on Wednesday.
Economic sabotage
The Revised Penal Code does not define the crime of economic sabotage although there are laws that classify certain acts as economic sabotage.
RA 10845, which deals with agricultural smuggling and which was enacted in 2016, defines "any act or activity which undermines, weakens or renders into disrepute the economic system or viability of the country or tends to bring out such effects."
Economic sabotage is also mentioned in letters of instruction and presidential decrees by ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Among those laws are PD 173, which considers faking Land Transportation Office documents and plates as economic sabotage, LOI 1359 (hoarding and other crimes), PD 1689 (estafa or swindling) and PD 2018 (illegal recruitment).
PD 1689 penalizes with life imprisonment "swindling (estafa) committed by a syndicate consisting of five or more persons formed with the intention of carrying out the unlawful or illegal act, transaction, enterprise or scheme" if the fraud "results in the misappropriation of money contributed by stockholders, or members of rural banks, cooperative, "samahang nayon(s)", or farmers association, or of funds solicited by corporations/associations from the general public."
'No valid contract'
“They have been holding the property for almost 50 years, then they were able to negotiate… There’s no valid contract,” the president said.
Sunvar Realty, a company owned by the Rufino and Prieto families, has been occupying Mile Long since 1982.
The two families also own the Inquirer, whom Duterte accused of being biased against him.
Duterte has accused the Prietos and Rufinos of swindling for allegedly refusing to pay rentals collected from the Mile Long property.
Sunvar has claimed that it had paid a “more than fair” price for the lease of the property, which is situated between De la Rosa and Arnaiz streets.
Duterte vowed to sell the Mile Long property and use the proceeds of the sale to build low-cost houses for the poor.
“They have to surrender it (Mile Long property) now because I need the money… This will be intended for the poor guys there. I will look for land and build them something…you would call a home,” the President said.
“That’s my plan. They must return everything, including an accounting of how much they collected all these years,” he added.