March 31, 2009 07:32 PM Tuesday [ journal.com.ph ]
VICE President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chair Noli “Kabayan” De Castro lauded the efforts of the National Police Task Force Against Professional Squatters and Squatting Syndicates and the Quezon City Police Task Force for the arrest of eleven suspected members of a squatting syndicate last Friday, 28 March.
The suspects who posed as military reservists entered and occupied a vacant lot inside the National Government Center (NGC) Housing Project West MRB Compound in Barangay Commonwealth, Quezon City. The lot is a property of the Republic of the Philippines held in trust by the National Housing Authority.
According to De Castro, who chairs the Inter-Agency Committee on the National Drive against Professional Squatters and Squatting Syndicates, the police task force headed by General Raul Bacalzo has been conducting surveillance activities in the NGC Housing Project because of alleged illegal operations undertaken by squatting syndicates.
“We have issued warnings to the community as well as in other areas where squatting syndicates are known to operate. We have also been encouraging the communities to be vigilant and to cooperate with HUDCC, NHA and the LGU Task Force on Squatting Syndicates in the conduct of monitoring and surveillance activities that could lead to the apprehension and arrest of suspected squatting syndicates,” De Castro said.
The suspects claimed ownership of the lot using a Certificate of Land Occupancy issued by a certain Allan Bustilo, alleged attorney-in-fact of the Doña Lourdes Rodriguez Yaneza Estate. The certificate shows an ownership by virtue of Titulo de Terrenos Royal Decree OLT 01-4 with TCT No. 38400. Initially, the police officers were met with resistance before the suspects heeded the arrest. Several firearms were confiscated along with fake identification cards.
According to De Castro, the modus operandi of these groups involves enticing the victims to join an organization with the promise of owning a house and lot for as low as P50,000. They are led to believe that the titles are true. HUDCC continues to conduct seminars and workshops through the local government units to strengthen and promote the advocacy and drive against professional squatters and squatting syndicates.
“We cannot allow these groups to proliferate and prey on unsuspecting families with empty promises of giving them secure land tenure,” De Castro said.
The suspects were charged with trespassing, illegal possession of firearms, usurpation of authority, coercion, and resisting arrest.
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