What happened to QC housing tax for squatters?

Should the Sangguniang Kabataan be abolished, as the Commission on Elections has proposed? According to the Comelec, the SK “has become the training ground for traditional politicians,” which is like saying that the SK “has become the training ground for thieves.” Some members of the youth council, who are no older than 18, have quickly learned from their elders on how to engage in dirty politics and how to siphon taxpayers’ money into their pockets. In the words of the late Manila Mayor Arsenio Lacson, “so young, so corrupt.” Better stop them while they are still young.

Two of the guests in last Monday’s Kapihan sa Manila at the Diamond hotel, former senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. and Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, opposed the outright abolition of the SK. (The third guest was election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, who is now called “the champion of senior citizens.”) Castelo instead proposed that the budget of the SK be removed. Without money, there will be no temptation. After all, it’s been said that money is the root of all evil.

Nene Pimentel, known as the father of the Local Government Code that created the SK, thinks that having the youth represented in the barangay council by one young person may be enough.

Won’t the young barangay council member be browbeaten by his/her older colleagues?

Pimentel: “Not necessarily. In resolving any disagreement on any policy regarding the youth, the opinion of the youth representative should take precedence.”

The ex-senator is also against the controversial Reproductive Health Law but I will not go into that anymore in order to save space, because the subject has already been debated to death.

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The discussion shifted to the worsening squatter problem. Quezon City, which Castelo represents, has the biggest number of squatters in the country, for which reason it is called “the squatter capital of the Philippines.”

What is the Quezon City government doing to rid itself of squatters? Castelo was asked.  The city government collects an additional real estate tax, called the “housing tax,” from property owners, purportedly to be used for housing for squatters. What has happened to the money?

Castelo: “It is in escrow.” Which means it is deposited in a bank. But why is it there? Why is it not being used for the purpose for which it is being collected—to provide housing for squatters and free the lots of those paying the taxes of the squatters who have victimized them for years?

A reporter slipped me a note saying that maybe some QC officials are getting kickbacks from the depository banks. The city government has billions of pesos (P4 billion as of last count) sleeping in the banks. Why is it not using the money to serve the taxpayers, like protecting the properties of owners who contribute the biggest chunk of the city’s taxes? Or building medium-rise housing for squatters in order to rescue so many areas that are decaying because of squatter colonies? Once freed of squatters, these areas will increase in value, and therefore their real estate taxes will also increase.

“Medium-rise housing will be built for the squatters,” Castelo said.

When? Not a single hollow block has been put in place for these alleged medium-rise housing projects. The terms of office of the mayor and the councilors who passed the ordinance will expire in less than three years, and no medium-rise housing has been built.

Castelo: “Soon.”

But when is “soon”? Castelo doesn’t know. Does Mayor Herbert Bautista know?

No answer.

When will the squatters on both sides of Luzon Avenue be relocated? This is now prime property, being an extension of C-5 and connects to Congressional Avenue and to North Luzon Expressway (NLEx). Pity the lot owners who are paying very high real estate taxes and yet get no protection or any help from the city government that is getting fat on their taxes. (When finished, Luzon Avenue will connect to Republic Avenue in Bulacan.)

Castelo: “The priority is the squatters living on the banks of waterways.”

With the housing tax for squatters, isn’t it only fair that private lots stolen by them get priority? Once freed of squatters, these lots can be developed by their owners and perhaps some units may be rented to homeless people.

Castelo: “Everybody will have their turn.”

Squatters are being condoned by local government officials because of their votes. In fact, many of them are brought in by candidates to vote for them. There are proposals that to stop this, squatters should not be allowed to vote in places where they are squatting. They will not be deprived of the right to vote but they will have to vote in the precincts where they came from.

Pimentel: “The trouble is the election law’s definition of ‘domicile.’ The law says a citizen can vote in the place where he has been residing for the last six months. The trouble is the certification of the barangay captain is enough to establish domicile. But why would not the barangay captain do this when, in the first place, he was the one who brought them in to vote for him?”

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Macalintal was asked why he dropped the charges against two restaurants who had refused to honor his and his wife’s driver’s licenses as proof that they are senior citizens and therefore are entitled to the 20-percent discount for seniors.

His reply: “The owners of the restaurants apologized, saying they did not know that the law allows the use of identification cards other than the senior citizen’s card. So I forgave them. But I told them that as a condition for dropping the charges, they should donate at least P20,000 each to any home for the aged (like Golden Acres).”