How do you solve the problem of the urban poor group Kadamay taking over the government’s housing projects?
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon offered no concrete solutions but pointed out that there’s a law and enforcing it would mean removing the Kadamay members, who forcibly occupied the housing units in Pandi, Bulacan, intended for the military and police personnel.
“I do not know. You tell me because you have to enforce the law and enforcing the law means removing them from the units that they occupied without authority,” Drilon said at a regular forum, Kapihan sa Manila Bay, in Malate, Manila.
He said allowing the group to occupy the housing units was a challenge to President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration and has set a “very serious precedent,” that should be handled carefully.
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“First of all, the Kadamay had taken over forcibly these housing units. What will happen if similar incidence takes place? Number two, now I read in the papers that those who legitimately were awarded and are paying for the housing units, and are now refusing to pay. If this spreads nationwide, what happens next?” the Minority Leader asked.
“These are consequences that must be addressed by this administration because of that policy allowing Kadamay members to occupy. There is a need for housing and that’s a basic human right. The issue is tama ba itong nangyari at proseso?” he said.
Engineer Romuel Alimboyao of the National Housing Authority (NHA) Central Luzon earlier admitted that the collection of monthly amortization for housing projects in Pandi went down by 50 percent after Kadamay’s occupation last March 8.
“Halos malaking poryesento (ang ibinagsak ng collection). May 50 percent ho (The collection went down by a huge margin. Around 50 percent),” Alimboyao said before lawmakers conducted an ocular inspection of the housing projects in Pandi on Tuesday.
Now that Kadamay have taken over the housing projects, Drilon doubts if the government could still force the occupants to pay for their houses.
“You force them to pay and if they do not pay, what will you do?” the senator asked.
Can the occupants still be evicted from the government’s housing units? The Minority Leader said: That’s against the instructions of the President. Honestly, I don’t know the answer.”
It was Duterte, who decided to give the houses to Kadamay after they occupied it last March 8. CBB