CREBA joins war vs squatting syndicates

The Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Association (CREBA) has rallied the housing and building industry behind the government’s campaign against squatting syndicates which are hamshackling the housing program and making a mockery of the country’s land titling system.

The CREBA thus joined forces with the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) in its new campaign which was announced during the recent 2002 CREBA-HUDCC National Convention in Baguio City.

In a statement, CREBA said the activities of squatting syndicates and professional squatters "who are not really poor squatters," not only violate the law but also hamper national development. CREBA underscored the need for the private sector to extend all possible assistance to the HUDCC anti-squatting syndicate campaign to help ensure its success.

"Land-grabbing which is what syndicated squatting is all about," CREBA stressed, "discourages local and foreign investors and to that extent stunts economic growth." Since the housing industry is recognized as a pump-prime of the economy, syndicated squatting lords are economic saboteurs."

As the housing and building industry impacts on related economic sectors, especially the manufacturers and suppliers of construction materials, and generates employment opportunities for thousands of workers and professionals, CREBA pointed out, "the squatting syndicate lords, therefore, are the enemies of the people."

CREBA said: "They make money in the name of poverty by milking the squatter poor and fooling the gullible homeless and lot and home buyers who acquire so-called ‘rights’ from them but remain ‘right-less’ throughout their lives."

CREBA is calling on developers and landowners, even homeowners, to report to its secretariat instances of squatting and syndicated squatting activities in the country. It will closely coordinate with the HUDCC in adopting measures to combat the nefarious activities of the squatting lords. CREBA’s regional and provincial chapters will be tapped in the campaign in their areas.

In his speech at the Baguio conference of CREBA and HUDCC, Secretary Michael T. Defensor said in its effort to push the housing program, the government is "not encouraging the proliferation of syndicate-built squatter colonies." He stressed: "We have warned, sternly, those who would misconstrue government compassion as a license to break the law: Do not test our patience. There is no room for anarchy in the government’s shelter program."

But he said, "in this war against squatting syndicates, we make some distinctions. Those who squat out of poverty may find assistance from the government, as the law provides. Those who squat out of profit will be prosecuted by the government, as the law itself requires."

While the government said it has identified squatting syndicates, CREBA said, the authorities have not fully examined the extent of syndicated squatting operations in this country nor thoroughly analyzed the depth of the problem.

Among the biggest allies of syndicated squatting are corrupt government officials and politicians who either close their eyes to their activities and/or make money out of their nefarious activities," CREBA said.

As a result, the chamber lamented, past government campaigns against syndicated squatting and professional squatting had failed. The government itself found it quite difficult to carry out its resettlement and relocation program for their real beneficiaries of the Urban Development and Housing act.