Aside from challenges brought by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, thousands of residents of Pangarap Village in Caloocan City are facing yet another problem caused by an unsettled land dispute which has dragged on for years.
About 40,000 individuals in the village currently do not have access to water and electricity, according to Barangay 182 chairman Rowelle Brin.
This is because a land developer claiming rights over the area does not allow utility companies to enter the area to install water connection and power lines despite an injunction order issued by a Caloocan court in 2016.
Residents instead rely on water retail stores and, sometimes, on generators or solar panels for electricity, which are expensive.
Worse, dozens of residents lost their homes to mud and waist-deep flood amid the continuous digging and dumping of soil on the waterways, Brin added.
"They are doing it without court order because they want us to leave Pangarap Village. They are not contented with cutting our power supply. This is what they're doing now. It's their way of forcing the residents out of the property," said Brin in a recent statement, "We are not squatters. We have our land titles.”
"Siguro iniisip mahaba, matagal yung proseso , baka matatalo pa . Kaya ang ginagawa, tanggalin ang kuryente namin, tanggalin ang tubig namin, tabunan ang mga kalsada, tabunan ang creek (Perhaps, they're thinking that the process of the law takes time and that they will lose the rights to the area. That's why, what they're doing is cut our electric and water lines and dump soil in the road and the creek)," the barangay head added in an interview with Manila Bulletin.
Brin also said that the land developer used to intimidate the residents "with armed men," referring to armed security officers deployed in the area.
In a video uploaded by a certain A Delos Santos on his Facebook account, residents and several armed officers were seen engaging in a confrontation. He explained that the residents were trying to stop the officers, who were about to block another alley by dumping soil. Several alleys are reportedly not passable because of the dumping.
In the said video, a resident was heard complaining to a barangay councilor that the officers would usually break into their homes.
"You're rude! Why are you opening our gates if there is no problem? Just because we don't give up our lands, you would break open our gates? Right?" a resident was heard saying in Filipino in the video during a confrontation with the armed guards.
Because of continuous digging and dumping of soil in a nearby creek, homes of some residents are submerged in waist-deep floodwater whenever there is a downpour. Rhon Palmera, a resident and a team leader of a group of residents fighting for the land, said this is because some low-lying areas in the area have become catch basins.
"Tinanggalan na nga ng mga legal na linya ng kuryente pati tubig at nasa pandemya, ganito pa ang gagawin (They already cut off our electric and water lines and in this time of pandemic they still subject us to harassment)," Palmera said in his Facebook post, showing a video of another resident complaining about being "bullied" by the land developer.
The situation has been happening for years, according to Brin. It came after former President Ferdinand Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 293 in 1973, invalidating the titles of its former owner and declaring the land open for disposition to members of the Malacañang Homeowners Association, Inc.
For several decades now, the question of who the real owner of the 156-hectare property is remains unresolved.
Currently, about 21 petitioners who are residents in the area are still awaiting the Supreme Court resolution on the quieting of title.
The barangay chairman and the residents are calling for a "status quo" in the area, which means no action or development in the said property but to no avail.
In early October, Caloocan City Mayor Oscar Malapitan asked the Philippine National Police and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to help the local government enforce laws to stop the land developer's "harassment" saying, "the proper resolution of land disputes is through the various legal and humane processes instituted by law in order to preserve peace and order."
He also ordered the deployment of the city's Legal Office and Environmental Management Office to take legal action to protect the city's waterways.
Brin said he wants to talk with President Duterte to ask his help and settle the problem for the sake of his constituents.
"Pabalik balik na po kami ng PCUB (Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor)… wala naman silang aksyon (We have brought this problem to the attention of the PCUB, but no action has been taken)," he said, "(Gusto namin makausap si President Duterte) para mapakinggan ang aming side, na ginaganito kami, walang proseso ng batas. Kawawa yung mga tao dito (We want to talk to President Duterte so he can hear our side, what is being done to us, no due process of law. People here are so pitiful)."