Anarchy

By Alex Magno (The Philippine Star), Mar 30, 2017

In an audacious move, urban poor group Kadamay moved in large numbers and forcibly occupied housing units in Pandi, Bualacan. They claimed the housing units for themselves, saying they were idle.

The forceful move apparently caught the authorities by surprise. It took days for the NHA to formulate a response. The response, eventually, was weak. The housing authority merely issued notices of eviction to the families that illegally occupied the housing project. These notices were, expectedly, treated as mere scraps of paper by the illegal occupants.

Kadamay, for its part, claimed certain bizarre “rights” to the housing units. They claimed to be poor and neglected by government. In their mind, government owed them housing units. They were, therefore, claiming the unoccupied units.

The Pandi development, it turns out, was housing built for members of the uniformed services. Since they did not have water and power connections yet, the legitimate awardees had yet to move in. The awardees properly applied for and were given socialized housing units to be paid over time in affordable installments.

The NHA, for its part, responded cautiously. It seems their first concern was to avoid a violent confrontation with the illegal occupants. Kadamay showed indication they were prepared to resist ejection from the units they commandeered. A violent confrontation would have yielded the unwholesome spectacle of policemen assaulting the poor. The New York Times would have gone to town with that, editorializing that the Duterte government was indeed at war with the poor.

Much has been made about President Duterte’s strong political will. But in this case, his government appeared thoroughly stymied.

The NHA made its weak response to the forcible takeover even weaker when it offered to review the qualifications of the illegal occupants and consider awarding some units to them. Those who might be awarded units will, of course, have to pay the nearly token monthly amortization charged all the beneficiaries.

Seeing the absolute spinelessness of the NHA response, Kadamay announced they will not pay any amortization. They were poor and therefore deserved housing for free.

If Kadamay gets its way in the Pandi project, the door will be opened to other forcible takeovers. This will be a dangerous precedent. No socialized housing project will be safe from invasions such as this one. Government land, and not only developed housing areas, will be in danger from invasions organized by militant groups.

When this happens, our entire socialized housing program will be put in jeopardy. Forcible occupations by groups unwilling to may the low amortizations, let alone the full cost of housing development, will drive the housing program to bankruptcy. The housing crisis will worsen rather than be alleviated by illegal takeovers like this one.

Private developers looking at investing in socialized housing projects will likely step back and put their money in higher-scale housing. Applicants for socialized housing units will likely have second thoughts since the units awarded them, after much labor, could simply be occupied by rascals unwilling to pay amortizations.

The fund for subsidized housing projects will dry up and the work of meeting the 6 million of so housing backlog will be stalled. Everyone suffer because Kadamay got its way.

After the 1986 Edsa Revolution, militant farmer groups began arbitrarily occupying idle land. They claimed that as some sort of dividend for winning a revolution. The revolutionary government responded by driving them away, understanding fully well that unless property rights are respected, the nation will be in danger of falling into anarchy.

Yet, strangely, the Duterte government seems unwilling to take a principled stand in defense of property rights. That unwillingness will have adverse implications for our economic development down the road.

Canard

Someone spread the canard that Presidential Assistant Bong Go brokered the surrender of Cebu road rage suspect David Lim, Jr. The canard was spread with the dark insinuation some political influence was used to favor the suspect.

Lim Jr. turns out to be the nephew of Peter Lim, the wealthy businessman suspected of involvement in the drug trade. The younger Lim shot another motorist in an incident caught on video.

For the record, it was Cebu Mayor Tommy Osmeña who went all out to get the suspect and put him in police custody. After failing to find him during the initial police raids, Osmeña received surrender feelers and acted on them. The younger Lim eventually turned himself over to the authorities. He is now out on bail.

In the first hours after the shooting incident, the influential Lim family must have sent out dozens of text messages to public officials with the intent of keeping their kin safe as he submits to the law. Since video of the shooting went viral, the family must have been understandably apprehensive about the safety of the younger Lim.

Bong Go might have received the urgent pleas for help from the Lim family but denies having done anything to intervene. All the credit goes to Tommy Osmeña, who took the road rage incident as a personal affront and the safety of the suspect a due concern.

The presidential assistant, who is beside his president nearly all his working hours, is simply too busy to be bothered with a road rage incident in Cebu. The case took the course it must. The suspect peaceably surrendered, was indicted before a proper court and was released after posting the required bail for the crime committed.

The wheels of justice will now take its normal course. He will undergo trial and accept the sentence for the wrong committed.