Squatting syndicate charged

The National Drive Against Professional Squatters and Squatting Syndicates (NDAPSSS) gained ground yesterday when it assisted three persons in filing criminal charges against members of an alleged squatting syndicate operating in Metro Manila and surrounding areas.

Leonara Sebastian, Armando Barbosa and Belinda Santos, owners of private lots in Grand View Park Subdivision in San Mateo, Rizal, filed the cases before Chief State Prosecutor Juvento Zunio of the Department of Justice.

They accused a squatting syndicate, allegedly led by spouses Bernard and Rachel Mabaggu, of invading their property, building makeshift structures on their vacant lots and illegally claiming ownership of said lands which they proposed to make into separate subdivisions.

The Mabaggus allegedly claimed their lots were part of 1,316 hectares of raw land covered by OCT 386 with Expediente 220429 with Decree 2471.

The complaints were assisted in filing the complaints by former congressman Amado Bagatsing, vice chairman of the Housing Urban and Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), Percival Chavez, chairman of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor, and Police Col. Arturo Estabillo, all of the NPADSSS.

The Mabaggus were accused of usurpation of real property rights, grave coercion, malicious mischief and violation of the building code.

The HUDCC said the complainants were just a few of the people who have been deprived of the full use and possession of their lots in San Mateo, and other urban areas in Quezon City and surrounding regions.