Threats, coercion and harassment used to intimidate the poorest of the poor

The long held open secret in the Marikina urban poor communities is FINALLY OUT. The see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil Office of the Mayor of Marikina since the time of the Fernando husband and wife mayors, is now officially aware of the financial shenanigans emanating from the MSO, the city help desk specifically formed to facilitate, assist and otherwise improve the lot of former squatters who were relocated and given the chance to own their assigned pieces of property as long as they paid their long term monthly amortization.

The city has garnered awards for the grand project initiated decades ago. Today, thousands of RELOCATEE families have fully paid their obligations and enjoy the guarantees of freedom from forced evictions, harassment and other threats.

The current GRAFT and CORRUPTION instituted and implemented by the MSO originated with the observation that some of families could not keep up with the monthly payments. Initially some voluntarily sold their rights because they were moving up the economic ladder and could now afford more expensive real estate. Others had their bread winners and/or OFW relatives stricken by misfortune (death, incapacitation, illness and/or OFW repatriations or loss of foreign contracts) and opted to live in their home provinces instead. Take note that many years after the resettlement process, the price of real estate in the area started to rise due to development, concentration of residents, proximity to schools, churches and businesses (fast food chains, bills payment centers, electronic shops) that are all parts of a thriving and dynamic community.

It did not take long for entrepreneurs to be attracted to opportunities to set up sarisari stores, groceries, bakeries, carinderias, hardware stores, restaurants, food to go, repair shops, internet shops, fruit stalls and what have you.

Buying out the gainfully employed would be a dicey proposition since they have no plans of moving out. In fact, from the original one to two story wooden structures, a significant number have already upgraded to three story reinforced concrete buildings.

It did not take a genius to figure out that the most vulnerable and prone to selling out would be the poorest of the poor who could not make good on their monthly installments and had, in fact, even incurred late payment and interest penalty charges, additional burdens to those who could not pay the principal amounts.

Enter MSO employees who had negotiated with real estate money bags with the promise to take care of the eviction of those delinquent hoi polloi. It was easy picking and huge money making during the golden age of MSO corruption. It was not all milk and honey though, with at least 3 MSO employees dying in separate incidents (two during demolitions and one apparently killed when cornered). Fast forward to the present and the pool of available lots has already shrunk (fully paid by the original settlers or now under the control of secondary buyers). Due to the violent deaths of the MSO employees, the modus operandi has evolved to MSO employees now offering the delinquent settlers cash (PHP 30,000 to 100,000) on top of the original payment of arrears and a little “lunch money” and relocation assistance. Due to the large demand for the lots and the dwindling supply, MSO employees are given a cash advance per piece of land by the unscrupulous real estate financiers ( PHP 300,000 to 500,000) to take care of the payoffs to the delinquent settlers, payments for the unpaid monthly dues, interest and penalties, expenses for barangay captains, kagawads, home owner association officers (usually the president and treasurer) and a whole chain of hangers on in the Marikina city government bureaucracy. Everybody happy. Corruption is a way of life and a good provider. The irony here is that the poorest of the poor are exploited by the very office set up to help them. In truth, the budget of the CORRUPT MSO could have better been spent subsidizing those that could not make ends meet and/or pay their delinquent accounts.

Suffice it to say that there are dozens of horror stories on how MSO employees harassed, coerced, intimidated, ridiculed, threatened, demeaned and otherwise insulted their target delinquents to take their money offer and peacefully vacate their premises as the real estate vultures had already advanced significant amounts and plans for the next business establishments were already in place. A classic tactic resorted to is throwing stones at the houses of those reluctant to cooperate with MSO employee enticements. To date, no case has been filed in court against the errant MSO officials although a number have been kicked out of their jobs while others have fled the scene before the law catches up to them. It goes without saying that the fruits of corruption far outweigh the salaries of the evil MSO employees.

We wish the current Marikina city mayor good luck in cleaning up the mess and to institute legal action against the perpetrators of crimes against the helpless poor.

#Marikina #MarikinaCorruption #ToleratingExploitation #PoorestOfThePoor