MANILA STANDARD TODAY EDITORIAL: WRONG MESSAGE
MANILA, APRIL 29, 2011 (MANILA STANDARD) FOR the second time in so many weeks, traffic into the country's commercial and financial district was stalled by the goings-on in a squatter colony, a stone's throw away from Metro Manila's main thoroughfare.
Last week, traffic on Edsa came to a standstill as firemen fought to contain a fire that gutted houses in the Laperal Compound, a shantytown in Makati City.
This week, police fought running street battles with squatters who refused to vacate the area, which the Makati City government had declared as a danger zone. Throwing bottles and stones, the squatters fought to stop a demolition team from tearing down what remained of their fire-damaged shanties. They also managed to commandeer a bus and blocked the highway with it, bringing traffic to a standstill. Eighteen people were injured before the violence subsided.
As he had done before, President Benigno Aquino III stepped into what was clearly a local incident, ordering a halt to clearing operations in the shantytown until relocation sites for the squatters had been found.
Last September, the President also stopped a clearing operation in North Triangle, Quezon City, after thousands of squatters fought police and shut down Edsa with wooden barricades and running battles with police.
In both cases, the presidential intervention served no good purpose, except perhaps to score some public relations points and to portray the President as a pacifist.
On the other hand, by calling even a temporary halt to the clearing operations, the President stopped local government officials and law enforcement agencies from doing their mandated jobs. His interference in local issues also called into question his priorities at a time when national issues demand his time and attention.
There can be little doubt that squatters are breaking the law when they build their makeshift homes on private or government property that does not belong to them. It is also against the law for them to use violence to oppose their eviction. What is unclear is why the government continues to coddle these law breakers at the expense of everybody else.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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