Realty firm's guards harass squatter families

MANILA, Philippines - A security guard of a private firm allegedly fired warning shots in the air as he and his colleagues blocked squatters marching toward the Merville barangay hall and the Parañaque city hall to fight for their possession of a 1.2-hectare land yesterday.

In a phone interview, Romy Cabugnason of the Alyansa ng Mamamayan ng Parañaque, said he and about 100 members of his group were going to the city hall when guards from the Air Cobra Security Agency stopped them on Daly Street in Barangay Merville at about 12 noon.

Cabugnason claimed that the guards hired by the Molave Development Corp. had been harassing them to leave the property which, he claimed, was already expropriated by the city government on July 23, 2005 from Molave.

He said although 422 families have been occupying the property since 2005, no funds had been released by the city government for the expropriation of the property valued at P12.4 million.

Cabugnason said they decided to march to the barangay hall and city hall to air their grievances, especially the harassment by the guards.

The guards later allowed marchers to proceed to the city hall where members of the city council met them.

Parañaque City police chief, Senior Superintendent Alfredo Valdez, denied reports of the alleged shooting by the guards. – Mike Frialde