LEFTISTS were to blame for the spread of anarchy when protesters forcefully took over and occupied idle housing projects intended for the military and other uniformed personnel in Pandi, Bulacan, President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday.
Apologizing to soldiers for giving away housing units intended for them to members of the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahirap (Kadamay), Duterte said he was forced to resolve the issue to avoid more confrontations between the government and the urban poor group.
“I would want to make first the report that your houses were taken away by the poor like us. But those are the guys that were used by the left. And they are into such anarchical activities and I cannot just remove them right away, because the other awardees are from the police and the military,” Duterte told troops at Camp Artemio Ricarte in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.
“If this thing will continue, then the soldiers and the police would intervene, then there could be bloodshed,” he added.
The President said he was not forgetting his obligation to provide housing for defenders of the State.
“That is your—consolation… But it doesn’t mean to say that government, I, have forgotten you. I said I commit to you now that there will be better houses to come.”
On Tuesday, Duterte urged soldiers and policemen to give up their claims to houses forcibly occupied by Kadamay members, saying he would build them better housing by December.
Leaders of Kadamay, however, asked Duterte if they could take over more housing projects meant for soldiers, policemen and firemen in Bulacan province.
Gloria Arellano, chairman of Kadamay, said her group wanted to occupy about 3,000 houses in Bocaue town and 877 houses in Bustos town that remained idle.
The Senate plans to investigate the illegal occupation of housing units in Pandi, Bulacan despite Duterte’s order to hand them over to the urban poor group.
The Pandi project was built to house families of police officers and soldiers, and residents resettled from perilous waterways.
Duterte, who earlier accused the illegal settlers of placing the government in an embarrassing position, said that he will not tolerate squatters who illegally occupied low-cost housing projects at Pandi, Bulacan.
At least 5,000 families affiliated with Kadamay have occupied six housing projects in Pandi, Bulacan since March 8. These units were supposedly built for personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police and for squatters who were moved from high-risk areas in Metro Manila.
In the House, Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, chairman of the committee on appropriations, said the President may issue an executive order to legitimize the takeover of housing units by Kadamay members.
Nograles also said his panel is ready to act on the bill to be filed by Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez, House committee on housing and urban development chairman, aimed at empowering President Duterte to redistribute the housing units that were taken over last month.
Benitez said there was a need to amend the 2014 General Appropriations Act that funded the housing projects originally intended for policemen and soldiers.
The National Housing Authority said there are about 52,341 idle housing units as of 2016. With Maricel V. Cruz
