Stopping squatting

BEHIND THE SCENES
Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY – Lola Elena had been paying taxes for the land she bought here in the 1960s at Barangay QM. But then, the killer quake struck in 1990 and she relocated to Manila due then to the dire situation of this city. The lot was classified as a tax declaration.

Unknown to her, an enterprising sanamangan squatted on her property and declared it as his. He even had the land registered at the Land Registration Office of the regional Department of Environment and Natural Resources. How this happened is a mystery.

Then, this sanamagan sold the lot to an unsuspecting buyer who built a house over the area. When she came back to Baguio to check on the lot, Lola Elena was surprised there was a house already over her land. When she inquired, the “owner” told her she bought it from the sanamagan. So Lola Elena filed a case in court which is now pending.

There are a lot of cases like that of Lola Elena in this summer capital and the rest of the country. In Baguio, squatters who are now being termed by government officials and the media as “informal settlers” have over the years taken over public or private lands which were not theirs. “Informal” my ass, they should be termed “illegal squatters” for what they are.

These professional squatters have even built houses over canals, rivers including sidewalks and sold these to the gullible. Sooner or later these sanamagans could build houses atop pine trees or anywhere they could hammer a nail or pour cement. So don’t be surprised if another enterprising sanamagan would declare Burnham Park as his.

Violence had already happened between legitimate owners and these speculators and it is high time the government puts more teeth in its anti-squatting drive before more lives would be lost and innocent landowners harmed.

Along Dominical Hill here, squatters reign supreme. There is a titled and sizable lot owned by former Benguet Electric Cooperative members which had been taken over by squatters.

They had asked the city government to demolish the squatters’ houses. But then, they were told by city officials they had to pay a hefty sum as required by the city government before they would demolish these.

Since some are jobless now, they could not pay the amount. For those who have the money, they wouldn’t want to shoulder the payment which should be shared by the others.

Now, while the real owners are in a dilemma on raising the money to evict the squatters, the latter are enjoying the fruit of their evil deeds. According to the real owners when they went to visit the area, they were even threatened by the squatters who were brandishing bolos to leave or they would die.

These cases are a clear indication of how enormous the problem of squatting is not only in this city but elsewhere. The situation is the same in many other squatter colonies all over the country invoking Republic Act 7279, otherwise known as the “Lina Law.”

Many are actually professional squatters who refuse eviction and relocation from properties unless they get paid a hefty sum. While poverty deprives many Filipinos the opportunity to have their own homes, the law’s original intent to address socioeconomic inequity and provide socialized housing for the poor has been abused and misused.

The Lina Law requires consultation between property owners and illegal occupants, with a 30-day notice of eviction plus a provision for adequate relocation for settlers. But this was the loophole that encouraged people to put up structures everywhere they liked - idle lands, vacant lots, condemned buildings, riverbanks, roadsides and even under bridges. They appropriated these as their own by simply invoking the Lina Law.

There is no justification that gives poor people or professional squatters the right to expropriate any property they want, totally disregarding the rights of legitimate owners, many of whom may have acquired their piece of land through hard work.

The usual modus operandi of these professional squatters is to scout for idle lands, start a colony (like that in Peripin Bato in nearby La Trinidad, Benguet) immediately encourage homeless people to put up structures, then wait for the aggrieved owner to pay them a “disturbance fee” before agreeing to leave voluntarily. In no time, they move on to another area and do the same thing all over again.

These “professional squatters” make a hell a lot of money as landlords - renting out shanties and charging their “tenants” excessive rates for basic utilities like water and electricity known to be tapped illegally anyway.

Many of these colonies even have their own sari-sari commercial centers that are tax-free businesses while the real landowners continue to pay real estate taxes.

The Lina Law is one of the reasons for the congestion, crime and overpopulation in urban areas like Baguio or Metro Manila because it literally encourages the influx of people from the provinces.

One reason why squatter colonies should be relocated is disasters that residents themselves face - the threat of fire due to improper/illegal electrical connections, flooding and the spread of diseases because of garbage compounded by lack of clean water and sanitation facilities.

While the original intent of the Lina Law may have been good, it has become clear that its many loopholes made it susceptible to abuse by opportunists, undermining the very rights of property owners, instigating chaos and anarchy and going against the rule of law.

The time for Congress to repeal this law has come. There is a need for better and more equitable legislation that would promote the interest of all parties concerned that is fair and just.