Last Monday’s editorial in The Philippine STAR entitled “Encroachment” struck a raw nerve on the issue of squatters building illegal structures along the Manggahan spillway. Let me print that portion for clarity: The encroaching structures were supposed to include not only shanties, especially those along riverbanks, but also real estate development that blocked or covered up creeks, streams and natural catchments. The Manggahan spillway was cleared of obstructions, but that was as far as the anti-squatting campaign went. Soon politicians were busy courting squatter votes for the 2010 general elections. Even worse was the fate of the promise to tear down structures built by real estate developers over creeks and similar bodies of water.”
It’s the first day of June and one can say that summer is officially over as the rainy season is already upon us. This means any super typhoon coming our way would certainly cause more flooding in the low lying streets of Metro Manila. But for as long as the Aquino government cannot find a real and honest-to-goodness solution to the never-ending problem of squatters, as the editorial pointed out in the last paragraph, “Similar warnings have been aired many times in the past but have gone unheeded. There has been no political will to confront the squatting problem. This rainy season, the nation will again pay the price for it.” I fully concur with this observation!
Mind you, the problems of Metro Cebu is quite similar to Metro Manila’s problem, which also includes our political leaders who are sorely lacking in political will and worse… our politicians always court these squatters during elections, giving them all sorts of promises that they intend to break anyway. In the end, the poor have always remained poor, while the politicos that they voted into office have become extremely rich, if not powerful.
Cebu City doesn’t have a huge river like the Pasig River, but it has two major wash out creeks, notably the Guadalupe River that begins in the foothills of Babag Hills behind the Guadalupe Church and ends all the way to the sea. This river divides the political boundaries between the North District and the South District of Cebu City. Water along this river is merely from drainage of homes that dot the riverbanks. The other river is called the Lahug Creek that comes from below Marco Polo Plaza Hotel, snakes past the main road to Beverly Hills, crossing to Escario St. and out into Mango Ave. then on to Echavez St. and out into the sea. Both creeks are littered with mostly squatters, including the rich who know how to encroach.
A third wash out creek is the Mahiga Creek right beside the Country Mall, which passes Cempark, then through the Cebu Country Club and into the Panagdait area which shares its boundaries with Mandaue City then snakes out into the reclamation area and out into the sea. The Mahiga Creek has become a sort of political battleground between Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and South District Rep. Tomas Osmeña due to the fact that Mayor Rama finally decided to demolish the illegal squatters that jut along the Mahiga Creek that the previous administration never dared to do.
But having the political will to demolish those structures that caused a historic flooding of many parts of Cebu City and Mandaue a few months ago has now brought a criminal suit filed against Mayor Rama by former Cebu City Administrator Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez, president of the Patambayayong, Inc., an umbrella NGO of urban poor groups. Being the City Administrator of former Mayor Tomas Osmeña, pundits believe that this suit was instigated by Osmeña, although Bimbo Fernandez denied that the former Mayor was involved in that suit.
The bone of contention was that Mayor Rama was not giving any money to these illegal settlers so as not to encourage new squatters to settle along the riverbanks. To make things difficult, Rep. Tomas Osmeña is giving these squatters P5,000 for each family… even though the Mahiga Creek is in the North District of Cebu, while he represents the South District, thus pundits are fueling rumors that he is already “vote buying” for the coming 2013 elections where he intends to run for Mayor again.
In his suit, Bimbo Fernandez cited Rep. Act. No 7279 of the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992 that clearly states that “urban poor dwellers shall not be evicted nor their dwelling demolished, except in accordance with law and in a just and humane manner.” This is known as the “Lina law” that has caused so much rift between the “haves” and the “haves not.” Perhaps it is time for Congress to revisit this law, as it has encouraged people from outside the urban areas to construct shanties in the hope of getting the government to pay up for land and housing. While we’re at it, we should have a law that ought to criminalize professional squatting, which is rampant in many squatter areas. Meanwhile in Cebu City, it is fast shaping up to be a battle royale between Rep. Osmeña and Mayor Mike Rama for the coming 2013 elections. How I wished, that they just solved the squatter issue.
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