Taguig defends Bicutan demolition

An official of Taguig defended yesterday the demolition of a compound in Western Bicutan, saying it was not personal and that he was merely doing his job.

Alfredo Espital, head of the Local Housing Board (LHB)-Taguig Municipality, yesterday belied accusations of the Floriano family that their homes located at a compound at 16 Sampaguita street in Western Bicutan were illegally demolished. In fact, he countered, the tearing down of structures was long overdue and within the limits of the law.

"I, personally, am not in favor of demolition, but we have to follow the law. To us, this is just part of our work and nothing personal. It is only natural for families affected to claim it was an unjust demolition and to file complaints, but we have supporting documents to justify our actions," Espital told The STAR.

In fact, he claimed, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) had been berating them for failing to accomplish his job. "The DILG is pressing us and said a court could find us in contempt because we did not follow the court order."

The local government claimed it was reclaiming its property to proceed with a road interconnection project. They will also embark on a creek-widening project and needs the Floriano property to construct a public market.

The writ of demolition of structures on the 8,600-square meter property was issued by the Commission on Settlement of Land Problem (COSLAP) on Feb. 8, 2000, but this was not implemented at once because the family appealed to the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court.

But in the end, the LHR head said, the High Tribunal upheld the earlier ruling of COSLAP and approved its demolition. During that time, Ricardo Papa was still the municipal mayor and it was only after Mayor Sigfrido Tinga took over in June 2001 that they were able to study the Floriano case.

The family sought a temporary restraining order with a Pasig City Regional Trial Court, but the petition was denied on July 24, 2003.

"At one time, we arranged a dialogue and informed them we would soon come to the area. We advised them to voluntarily demolish their houses to avoid anyone getting hurt. In some of the demolition activities, we were accompanied by representatives from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)," Espital said.

Jose Pempe Floriano, 55, earlier lamented his brother Boy was beaten when the latter refused to turnover a video camera to the police, while his sister-in-law Marie Flor was also hurt after a member of the demolition crew pushed her to the ground. Espital denied these claims.

Floriano said the destruction of their homes were against the law because they were not accompanied by a court sheriff nor was the prescriptive 15 days prior to the issuance of a writ of execution observed.

But the city government official argued the presence of a sheriff was not necessary during a demolition because the police officers from the Southern Police District were present. "We had to bring in the police because during the first day of demolition on July 29, they were resisting and throwing rocks at the demolition crew."

In fact, they are also hunting for Boy, who they claimed was armed and fired shots at them. But this runs counter with the Floriano’s claims that it was the demolition crew that was armed and fired two shots at them.

They are also accused of looting and not providing relocation sites for the Floriano families.

But according to the law, Espital said, they had to confiscate some of the galvanized iron sheets and some pieces of wood as "evidence" and that the families are not entitled to be given new housing sites.

To the dismay of the family, the crew, after placing a padlock on their main gate on Thursday, began cutting down trees that have been planted by their father the late Isauro in the early 1960s.

"They cannot do that because they do not have a permit from the Department of Environment of Natural Resources," Floriano said.

Espital says he is not aware his team has cut down trees. He promised to immediately order them to stop. He also gave his assurance that the environment will be well taken care of and they would coordinate and borrow equipment from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority so they can uproot and save some of the trees and transfer them to other areas.