Mayor Al to run after all squatters
WHETHER RICH OR POOR
After filing cases against prominent persons found allegedly squatting on the Tondaligan National Park in Barangay Bonuan Binloc, the city government warned it will not hesitate to go after other squatters who stand in the way of development.
In an interview at his office on Friday, Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. said his office intends to initiate legal action against all squatters, whether they are rich or poor but occupying small or large parcels of public land, who don’t have the legal documents to prove ownership.
Regional Trial Court Judge Robert Rudio of Branch 40 in Dagupan City, Calasiao town Mayor Roy Macanlalay, lawyer Juan Siapno Jr. and businessman Mario Sandoval, owner of Goring’s Restaurant on Arellano Street, were the first to be sued by the city government in a criminal complaint filed by City Engineer Virginia Rosario before the City Prosecutors Office last week.
“We will do this with the other squatters we are always talking of programs on housing security but those who are privileged in life are observed to be always given the first right of refusal,” the mayor said, stressing that the ongoing aggressive campaign against squatting will apply to everyone.
Fernandez said this was precisely the reason behind his issuance in December 2007 of an order seeking the cancellation of all tax declarations issued by the City Assessors Office to different individuals, mostly rich and influential.
The mayor said the city has a site in the beach area that has been applied for as a relocation site for evicted squatters in the park.
In addition, the city is intends to construct a five-hectare housing project for city government employees, policemen, teachers and mediamen.
It is in this five-hectare housing project where the Task Force on Housing and Urban Resettlement headed by City Engineer Virginia Rosario the two-storey house of Rudio was verified to be illegally built.
The judge and others similarly situated will have to be “un-settled” for building their houses and structures illegally and occupying the areas without going through the mandated processes.
At the same time, Fernandez announced that the construction of the houses at the relocation site is now at full speed to accommodate legitimate residents of Sitio Russia in Bonuan Binloc who would be displaced by the construction of a P100 million Seafood Processing Plant.
The relocation site is targeted for completion in two months, but no date has been set for the transfer of the affected residents.
However, Fernandez said the P100 million seafood processing plant project has already been bidded in South Korea and that Korean officials were in Dagupan to talk with local officials three week ago.—LM
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