Punchline
Rich Squatter, Poor Squatter
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
The poor squatters in Sitio Russia are obviously being misled by the affluent making the former believe that they have every right to stay in the land they occupy.
Granting for the sake of argument that they may have the right to it, it is not likely that the court or even the national government will easily decide in their favor just yet, not for another decade. Before they can make themselves believe that they have the upper hand in this imbroglio, what is crystal clear from the very beginning is they can’t ever claim they have the land titles to their name, meaning, the burden is on them to prove that they are entitled to the land. Meanwhile, they have to contend with daily pressure of fending off attempts of city hall to kick them out. They will never have peace and quiet.
By resisting and staying longer in their illegal occupied lands, they are depriving their families of the chance to build on their honest gains. But of course, this proposition hardly matters to the rich squatters among them because they have the means to easily transport themselves elsewhere, to move on with just a flick of their fingers. In fact, it’d be easy for them to simply turn around and junk their legal fight at anytime, which could happen next month or next year, and leave the rest of the squatters without legal means to support their claim. Then what next?
The poor squatters are understandably desperate to keep their places, and to own them. If they can’t own it, they’d be just too happy to be left alone as squatters. And, it is precisely this situation that the affluent are clearly exploiting. The rich squatters need to use the poor among them as pawns in the hope they can own the public land free, a million-worth of asset!
The situation for the poor and the desperate will definitely worsen each day they resist efforts to relocate them if only to show solidarity with their illegal ritzy neighbors who appear to them as compassionate neighbors. What they don’t realize is they have everything to lose while the affluent have everything to gain in this pointless game of brinkmanship.
Shouldn’t the poor squatters already wonder why their ritzy neighbors did not join them in the frontline to do battle with the cops? Hmmm.
The city hall is dead set in taking over a public land, and chances are it has the legal documents to prove it is entitled to it. With that scenario, what are the chances of the squatters living peacefully in the weeks ahead? I say 2%!
The friends of the poor squatters would do well to encourage the latter to cut clean, move on to the relocation site, and have a quiet productive life from thereon. They risk losing their relocation rights should they persist siding with the rich squatters today. They have everything to lose today, tomorrow.
* * * * *
FIGHTING ABORTION. Thank goodness, the Dagupan police and the Barangay Health Workers have settled their differences over the campaign vs. abortion. There was nothing to gain from a protracted word war between agencies who provide critical support to the community.
The idea of Councilor Farah Decano to have the two parties sign a memorandum of understanding and cooperation between the police the BHW is good but it is not enough to simply involve the two. If the city is dead set on stopping the killing of fetus in the city, it must involve other sectors that have as much stake or responsibility for it.
I suggest the inclusion of the barangay captains, who are expected to know every illegal activity under their jurisdiction. They must be made accountable if it is verified that abortionists operate with impunity in their barangays.
Then, it must include the City Health Office that supervises the BHW, and the local drug stores association whose members wittingly or unwittingly make it possible for abortionists to look credible.
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