THE PROBLEM of flood control is directly connected with the problem of squatter relocation, and there is no way to go around this problem except to solve it.
First things first however, we have to call a spade a spade, and let us not go around a problem by deodorizing it with a better sounding name.
Squatters are squatters and it may sound better to call them informal settlers but it does not make their lot better not unless we go down to the root of their problem and solve it.
The truth of the matter is, people need livelihood in order to survive, and they will fight tooth and nail to be able to live where they could have a livelihood. Of course, they need a place to live in, but as we have seen it everywhere, it does not matter to them what kind of housing they have, as long as they have livelihood where they live.
Two successful projects in squatter relocation are now teaching us lessons that will show us the way in dealing with this problem. The first one is a project of Sagip Bansa in Payatas, Quezon City involving Father Benigno Beltran and Mr. Louie Ramos, and the second one is a project of Nameless Faceless Servants (NFS) in Tripa de Gallina, Pasay City, involving Pastor Wyden King. The common denominator in both projects is that there was an effort to transform the moral values of those who were relocated, and both did not involve violent relocation moves.
As of 2012, about a hundred families were already relocated by Sagip Bansa to a new settlement in Zambales, where they now have jobs and decent housing.
About the same numbers of families were relocated by NFS to temporary housing quarters in Caloocan City, while a new high rise socialized housing condominium is being built for them where they came from. The first of its kind in the country, it will have the highest quality that a condo requires, but it will be sold to the beneficiary families at the lowest prices, at the easiest payment terms. The same easy terms will be given to the settlers in Zambales.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of privately owned real estate properties in Metro Manila and nearby towns that are now occupied by squatters, and there is no way for their owners to get them back, much less to sell them. If they could indeed sell them, they are not likely to get even ten percent of the value of their properties.
With this new social formula that we have discovered, these landowners now have the chance to do something good for their community, while at the same time they could get back the full value of their properties. All they have to do is to donate their land to the local government, so that the national government through the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) could help with the financing.
What happened between HUDCC and NFS is now an outstanding showcase of public and private partnership (PPP), a centrepiece program of the government./PN
