San Juan residents on edge over threat of demolition

MANILA, Philippines — A familiar feeling of tension has gripped a neighborhood in Barangay Kabayanan, San Juan City, where residents have been keeping watch after an alleged demolition team tried to enter the area a week ago.

Raymond Alzona, the neighborhood association chair of Burol, Kabayanan, said in an interview that after years of relative quiet, six truckloads of men with knives, ice picks and hammers arrived on May 20 with documents supposedly allowing them to tear down houses.

Alzona, however, said that residents had a pending motion to quash the writ of demolition in the San Juan Regional Trial Court. The petition was filed on May 19.

Col. Ariel Fulo, San Juan police chief, said in a text message that no demolitions would occur until the court had issued a ruling.

Burol’s 500 families and roughly 2,000 individuals have faced the threat of demolition since 2011.

“People had come here and given us 45 days to leave. A lot of people were paid or scared into leaving,” said Alzona, although the majority of families, who had lived there for 50 years or more, stood their ground.

Dummy firm?

According to him, the land was allegedly owned by a certain 77 D Holdings Corp., which they suspected was a dummy corporation, because it was not in the records of the Land Registration Authority, Land Management Bureau and Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Alzona said he saw the demolition team heading toward Burol on May 20 at 5 a.m. and quickly woke up residents.

“By the time they reached us, there were many of us waiting,” he said. “Instead of surprising us, they were the ones who were surprised.”

Mayor-elect Francis Zamora earlier said there would be no demolitions under his term but there was still a month to go before his assumption of office.