Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista may face a libel complaint for calling informal settlers in the city’s North Triangle area “professional squatters.”
According to reports, Bautista said settlers opposed to relocation and demolition from the area that will be developed into a commercial zone is being assisted by an organized group. He said the so-called professional squatting syndicate asked P1,000 from each family living in the area to help oppose the relocation of settlers at North Triangle.
Anakbayan party-list, a militant youth group that has thrown support behind the settlers, will reportedly file a libel complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday.
A discussion thread on the Facebook page of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-National Capital Region talks about the supposed payments made by the settlers. “Herbert Bautista said the rallyists were paid. They supposedly received P1,000. How come I didn’t get anything?,” one user said sarcastically.
“We don’t even have money for food. We have to walk (to the rally),” the same user said.
Bayan is an umbrella group for the national democratic movement.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government has said it will look into the supposed existence of professional squatting syndicates that make money on loans for housing materials and for water and electricity.
Video by Defend JOB Philippines
On Monday, settlers set up a barricade along Agham Road in Quezon City and refused to leave despite the arrival of police. Residents threw stones, human waste, and other projectiles to deter police.
According to urban poor group Kadamay, settlers refused to dismantle the barricade unless the government announced there would be no demolition of houses.
Negotiations broke down at 10:00 a.m., after which the “Quezon City Police District brutally dispersed the protest action and fired (at) the protesting residents.”
“By 2:00 pm, the residents marched to the Quezon City Hall to air their demands and condemn the violent dispersal and the pronouncement by Mayor Herbert Bautista that the residents of Sitio San Roque are professional squatters,” the group also said.
They said they were “brutally attacked by policemen” before they could enter City Hall.
