An applicable lesson from the past

It is good for our honorable members of the city council to read again the book of Dean Jeremias Montemayor entitled “Ours To Share”. If one can still find a copy, it was written in the late 60’s. In reading this work, they can help develop the reading habit for the young to emulate. More importantly, they will learn the root case of the rise of the city’s share of squatters, (now euphemistically called “informal settlers”).

Dean Montemayor’s work was published more than four decades ago, but it might have as well been written today. His lucid discussion why people are so fascinated with the attraction of the cities that they abandon their productive farms in favor of the cities’ glitters, applies to the present times as it did long ago. In other words, the problem of squatting is not new. When our honorable local legislators shall have gone thru the pages of this book, I believe they shall understand better how our share of informal settlers has become so burdensome. Then, and probably only then that they will realize that the approach they seem to be adopting is inefficacious.

To put this discussion in a proper perspective, let me recall that the city plans to buy more lots worth millions of pesos. These assets will be used as relocation sites for our thousands of less privileged brothers. Of course, in order not to alarm the ordinary tax paying individuals who might think that their taxes are spent on the wrong projects, and as a consequence, feel oppressed, there is a profound sounding social justification the city is expected to lean on. These parcels of land will not be given free. The beneficiaries will pay for them. Fine.

Before the city splurges, let our officials remember at least two things. First, there are still properties the city acquired for the same purpose that have not been fully utilized yet. Second, the payments of a good number of those lots that have already distributed to beneficiaries still remain to be accounted. Did we not read the report long not ago that more than Three Hundred Million pesos of funds remain to be collected from those who have taken lots as beneficiaries of the city’s housing program. If we have not collected these monies, yet, because we seem unable to, why spend more? These two sit on top of the fact that the subdivision works of many of these projects are, if at all, very poorly done.

Be that as it may, buying lots for distribution to the city’s growing horde of landless residents, while unquestionably noble, will not solve the problem of informal settlers. Instead, this move can aggravate the situation in the long run. Providing homelots to the squatters serves to attract more people from the provinces to come to our city. They will, all the more, be encouraged to leave their homes in the neighboring islands in favor of our city thinking that at some time later, they will be given the chance to acquire lots here.

I suggest that we reverse the migration process that was written, in scholarly detail, in the book of Montemayor. Let it be a movement of people towards the provinces. To work this idea out, the city has to identify where our informal settlers come from and where possible, make arrangements with the local governments units concerned to welcome back to their fold their original inhabitants, prioritizing upon those who live in our midst without visible means of viable support. The millions of pesos we allocate to buy parcels of land can be used more fruitfully to provide livelihood in those areas where these residents maybe be “repatriated” to (sorry, I have no better word to use!)

While working on reducing the number of our present informal settlers, we must let our authorities think of ways to discourage people to come to our city, short of apartheid-like measures. There are various legitimate ways to achieve this end, if, by using their minds, they choose to do positive things. I want to believe that our councilors are capable of some imagination. After all, they are paid to do a job.

When these approaches to the problem are implemented, we shall make our city a model to emulate. We can do it, can’t we honorable councilors?

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