QC councilors are squatter coddlers

Edited
By Neal Cruz
Philippine Daily Inquirer

WHAT is this? The Quezon City Council has proposed an ordinance declaring a moratorium on the eviction of squatters in the city “until there are enough relocation sites for affected families.” That means squatters from all over the Philippines, professional squatters or otherwise, will flock to Quezon City because here councilors coddle squatters. QC is already known as the “squatter capital of the Philippines.” It has the most number of squatters and it has the biggest squatter colonies. The new QC ordinance will make the city named after President Manuel Quezon the “squatter capital of the world.” I think this is the QC Council’s gimmick to gain entry to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Why are the councilors doing this? Simple. Next year is election year and squatters are voters. And politicians will do anything, even sell their own mothers, to get votes.

It won’t only be the squatters already in place who would vote for the councilors who passed the ordinance but also the new squatters from other parts of Metro Manila and the Philippines. So you see, the incumbent councilors would have the advantage over all other candidates because of the squatter votes. The ordinance, the councilors would say, is for humane considerations. But it is actually in aid of political considerations.

The taxpayers, the homeowners and businessmen, have made QC the richest city in the Philippines, richer than Makati with its high-rise condos and even higher real estate prices. Thanks to these taxpayers, QC has more than P3 billion in the bank—and growing. Think of the commissions the grateful banks give to those who decide where to deposit the funds.

Where does the money go? The government spends it for the millions of squatters in the city who do not pay taxes at all. And for the councilors. Those useless tarpaulins polluting the city, greeting GMA and INC Bishop Eraño Manalo happy birthday, congratulating graduating students, wishing “happy valentine” and “happy fiesta” to nobody in particular—they were all paid with the taxes you paid. And all for what? To remind the voters of the names and faces of the councilors.

Those basketball courts and pool halls in the squatter colonies—they were paid with your money. Those concrete semi-arches with the names of the councilors etched in stone like the Ten Commandments at the boundaries of each barangay—they were paid with your taxes. Those unnecessary waiting sheds (unnecessary because the Metro Manila Development Authority is already putting up better waiting sheds) with the names of councilors painted in big bold letters on them—they were all paid with your taxes.


What do the councilors do to help the homeowners? Help the homeowners? On the contrary, they pass ordinances increasing the real estate taxes for lots squatted on. The owners pay those taxes, not the squatters who use the lots. They may pass more ordinances prohibiting the ejectment of squatters.

Can the councilors pass an ordinance overturning the rights of ownership? Can the council prevent lot owners from ejecting squatters from their properties by the mere passage of an ordinance? Can the council prevent the city government or the MMDA from performing their duties of ejecting squatters and restoring law and order? Of course they cannot, but why do they try to block the enforcement of laws? Because of votes.

When there is a squatter demolition in any part of the metropolis, who are the first to show up to stop the law enforcers from doing their duty? The councilors—and the congressmen, especially Rep. Bingbong Crisologo. They will berate the law enforcers and play up to the squatters, not realizing that they are actually guilty of obstruction of justice. Because of votes. Votes are actually more powerful than the law or justice. Politicians will beg, steal or borrow, sell their own mothers and violate the laws in exchange for votes.

What can we taxpayers do? Well, aside from a tax revolt, the best way is the ballot. Do not vote for the squatter coddlers. If a councilor or congressman tries to stop a demolition, remember his name and don’t vote for him in next year’s election. Vote for his rival, whoever he is, so long as he is not a squatter coddler himself. Don’t vote for the politicians whose tarpaulins you see polluting the city.

They are stealing your taxes to pay for those tarpaulins. Don’t vote for politicians whose names you see painted on waiting sheds. They did not pay for those waiting sheds. You did. Don’t vote for politicians whose names you see on the backboards of basketball goals erected in the middle of streets so that squatters can play basketball, instead of working, and preventing the public from using the street.

Don’t vote for squatter coddlers. By the way, the author of the proposed ordinance granting a moratorium on the eviction of squatters is Councilor Bernadette Herrera-Dy.
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Any waste of spending tax payer's money is a form of corruption.
Enough with the tarpaulins.
Enough with the Trash cans.
Enough with stupid community projects that end up nowhere.

Try to be more creative. Your constituents are hungry, sick, no jobs.
Create lasting solutions to major problems one at a time.

That would be the best greeting anyone would remeber by heart.

WHY GOV'T PROJECTS COSTS SO MUCH

Based from Ramon Tulfo's recent entry in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, describes how Congressmen earn from their construction projects through earmarks and commissions from their preferred contractors. This practice, bloats the amount of construction projects because apart from the contractor's profit, they, the contractors, should also give at least 20% of the contract price to their patrons in the government and collude with other contractors bidding for the project.

Despite of this, projects are often left started and takes years, even centuries to be completed.
Here's a part of the story:

The Senate investigation into the blacklisting of three road construction firms by the World Bank in its road construction projects was a far cry from the one at the House of Representatives.

While Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chair of the Senate committee on economic affairs, castigated Edward de Luna at the hearing, congressmen sang hosannahs to De Luna during the House inquiry.
Both administration and opposition congressmen unashamedly castigated the World Bank for its supposedly arbitrary blacklisting of the local construction firms.

De Luna owns EC de Luna Construction, one of those banned by the World Bank.
All the praises for De Luna and the castigation of the World Bank were done in front of the beleaguered contractor, apparently to bloat his ego.

An observer said he almost puked over the servility shown by the congressmen toward De Luna.
Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong, former public works secretary, asked De Luna, in reference to my column, whether he (Datumanong) gave De Luna preferential treatment.
De Luna answered in the negative.

If you don’t call that moro-moro, I don’t know what is.

The congressmen’s boot-licking attitude toward De Luna is understandable.Most of them are his “suki” (patron) in their pork barrel projects.Everybody knows that 20 percent of the cost of a road construction or schoolbuilding project from the congressional pork barrel goes to the pockets of you-know-who as commission.

* * *

Charlie Gonzales of Ulticon Builders, an alleged partner of De Luna in the cartel that reportedly corners all road-building contracts at the DPWH, is very close to a Davao congressman.
The congressman, a close ally of the Arroyo couple, reportedly gives Gonzales all his road construction projects from his pork barrel fund.But he is not alone. Other congressmen in the five Davao provinces and city are also Gonzales’ suki.