Kadamay members have occupied 5,918 units in idle housing projects and plans to expand the movement. (Photo courtesy of KADAMAY)
Two senators warned of anarchy following President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to give to members of Kadamay, an urban poor group, the government housing units they had been occupying in Bulacan province.
Sen. Richard Gordon, a member of the Senate majority bloc, said he was saddened by the decision as it appeared that the president might be falling on his own sword.
“Kadamay may be poor, but that’s not an excuse for them to take other people’s property,” Gordon said in a phone patch interview with Senate reporters on Wednesday.
“It sets a bad precedent that people can take over somebody else’s home,” he added. “We have enough problems already concerning informal settlers. And two, it sows us anarchy.”
Duterte’s statement not to bother the people occupying the housing projects because they were fighting back did not also sit well with Gordon.
“It makes him look weak and that’s not the Duterte I know,” the senator said.
In a speech on Tuesday, during the celebration of the Army’s 120th anniversary in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig, Duterte announced that he would allow Kadamay to occupy the houses and at the same time promised better shelter for police and the military personnel, who were the intended beneficiaries of the projects in Bulacan.
“Huwag na natin guluhin ’yung mga tao diyan kasi lumalaban eh,” Duterte said. “Their only sin is just really mahirap din sila kagaya natin. So bigyan ko kayo ng mas maganda, mas konting mahal, mas komportable at mas malaki,”
(“Let’s not bother the people there because they’re fighting back. Their only sin is just really they’re just poor like us. So I’ll just give you shelter that would be more beautiful, a bit more expesnive, more comfortable, and bigger.”)
READ: Duterte vows to give housing units in Bulacan to Kadamay
Gordon welcomed the president’s promise to the police and the military. But he stressed that nobody has the right to take over other people’s property without due process.
“Ang mga bahay na ito nakalaan para sa mga taong dapat manirahan diyan, ” he said. “At kung kukunin na lamang, dadaanin na lang sa strength ng numbers, nakakatakot yan eh. That’s what you might call anarchy.”
(“The houses there are reserved for the people who should be living there. And if you just get it through the strength of numbers, that’s scary. That’s what you might call anarchy.”)
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who is also part of the Senate majority bloc, said allowing Kadamay to occupy the housing units was a “potential invitation to utter disregard to the rule of law, if not chaos and anarchy.”
“A system must be put in place for an orderly turn-over of unoccupied housing units to the homeless among our countrymen if the government is already committed to giving out the units to the Kadamay group,” Lacson said in a text message.
“If not attended to properly, my concern is, if this move is replicated all over the country and has become uncontrollable, we have a big problem,” he added. /atm
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