The group known as Kadamay is an urban poor organization that forcibly occupied some public housing units reserved for policemen and AFP personnel in Pandi, Bulacan. In a nutshell, this is an illegal occupation that could set a precedent for some other urban poor organization to emulate and follow.
A senate and a congressional hearing was held to investigate Kadamay, and it was established that more than anything, the said group is an organized squatter group out to wreak havoc on the housing thrust of the government. Initially, when they forcibly occupied some housing units in Pandi, Bulacan – the main demand was a housing units for the poor that was promised by the newly elected president.
President Rodrigo R. Duterte, in his typical presidential rant publicly told the Kadamay group to vacate the said housing units or face the full force and implementation of forcible eviction. Psychologically, this is quite scary since the president is known to be hard on people who violates the law, and his projection usually borders on a strong-willed personality and a no-non-sense leader. A dead line was publicly announced and set. Some Kadamay members, after hearing the presidential rant, withdrew from the subdivision but some hardliners, took a stance of open defiance to the president and the law.
Politically, it was a chance for the president to show that he is for the law because it was clearly established that the occupation is illegal and unlawful. Surprisingly, a complete 360 turn was made and a glaring presidential flip flop was made, in public, the sitting president told the dispossessed police and military men to simply give the housing units to the Kadamay group as a donation and in turn he will construct a better and a bigger housing unit for the affected police and military personnel.
After hearing the flip-flop, those who left wanted to get back at the abandoned units, an ugly fight ensued among the Kadamay group, because to those who took the hard-stance, those who abandoned their units already gave up their claim, hence for units for those who stayed, more housing units for the hardliners.
The fiasco does not end with the illegal presidential grant, because last May 1, the annual celebration of Labor Day worldwide, the Kadamay group, after smelling blood, wanted more from the sitting president. They now demand that the housing unit be free of charge, meaning they will not pay for a single centavo for it; they now want jobs – to be provided by the government regardless of qualifications; and they now want water and electric connection without going to the usual process of application.
I was even telling myself, why stop there? Why not ask for a free internet connection?
This act of flip-flopping opened a model for other urban poor groups - for the past weeks, one urban poor group after another, tried to copy the Kadamay way of forcible occupation to some housing units regardless whether such is a government housing or a privately-owned housing.
To avoid anarchy from ruling, this must stop, if a similar forcible occupation occurs, the president must implement the law, he must evict these squatters and prosecute them and if found guilty, must put them where they belong, in jail. Any deviation, will result in a squatter republic, where everything is asked from the government for free and their license is simply because they are poor.
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