As I See It
By Neal H. Cruz

Veteran newsman Neal Cruz received the National Consumers' Excellence Award for Outstanding Journalist in 2002. He has been a top editor for many of Inquirer's most illustrious competitors. We're happy to have him on our pages at last.

"As I see It " comes out every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in Philippine Daily Inquirer's Opinion Section.

Sample Column:

Bad news for abducted Pinoys?
Published: November 17, 2004
Inquirer : Opinion Section

THE MUCH ballyhooed phone call of President George W. Bush to President Mapacagal-Arroyo may be good news for Malacañang, but it could be very bad news for abducted Filipinos Angelito Nayan and Roberto Tarongoy. The phone call and the selection of the Philippines to lead the anti-terror task force of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation may prompt GMA to sacrifice them to prove a hardline stance against terrorists.

Angelo de la Cruz was a lucky victim. GMA pulled the Filipino troops out of Iraq to save him before Bush could cold-shoulder her. Since then, she has been trying hard to get back into his good graces. Nayan and Tarongoy may not get the same compassionate treatment.

GMA is so scared her plummeting popularity would hit rock bottom that she is courting everybody,when all she needs to do to be loved by the people is to do her job properly and get the ship of state back on keel.

* * *
Quezon City Treasurer Victor Endriga sent a letter commenting on my three columns regarding a lot sold by his office at public auction without the knowledge of the owners. In his letter, Endriga said the “Del Rosarios should have endeavored to have the Tax Declaration transferred in their name. It is certainly not the fault of the city government that they failed to do this. How can the Del Rosarios be informed when they were not yet officially registered as the owner of the property concerned?”(The Transfer Certificate of Title was already in their name, the transfer tax and other fees paid, said the Del Rosarios. For such a serious matter that would deprive a family of its property, the QC treasurer should have exercised more prudence by verifying the ownership of the property through other documents— which are literally at his fingertips— before selling it, the couple say. Besides, Endriga didn’t follow the rules, thus denying them due process, they added.)

“The auctioned property is specifically identified as Lot 29, Block 3, located at No. 19, and not at No. 10 as written in your column, Arzobispo St., New Intramuros Village, Quezon City as per Tax Declaration No. D-67-1849,” continued Endriga. (The lot was sold long before the column was written. The address in the column didn’t matter.)

“Our office complied with all the requirements and processes before the said property was sold at public auction.”

(The owners don’t think so. Anyway, the requirements and processes are intended to prevent mistakes and a miscarriage of justice. Endriga’s actions resulted in a monumental error and miscarriage of justice that should be rectified.)

“We do not wish to make further comments on this since this case is now pending before the Court.

“Your suggestions on what the city administration should do about the problems of squatters are well-taken. They are exactly what Mayor Feliciano Belmonte has been doing since he was elected mayor in 2001. In fact, the city government has created a corporation, the Housing and Urban Renewal Administration (Hura)—perhaps the first local government to do so—tasked solely with building medium-rise and affordable housing units for urban poor families, particularly the informal settlers or squatters. I am aware of this program since I am the corporate secretary of Hura.

“The first such project at Escopa III is now almost ready for occupancy. Similar projects will soon be undertaken all over the city. Mayor Belmonte is also exerting efforts to acquire ideal relocation sites for the city’s informal settlers.”

(Another thing that the mayor should do is to prevent the entry of new squatters, othVilerwise there would be no end to the squatter problem and QC would just exhaust all its resources without solving it. Also, prevent councilors and barangay officials from coddling squatters and encouraging them to squat in QC in exchange for their votes.)

“It is unfair to say that Quezon City became rich because it raised real estate property taxes. It still has one of the lowest rates of real estate taxes in Metro Manila. May we also point out that most of the income of the city government comes from business taxes. The city gained financial stability through efficient collection and the cooperation of the business community.”

(But what is the government doing in exchange for the taxes paid? Is it helping the taxpaying owners to eject squatters from their properties? Is it protecting their properties from new squatters? Auctioning a property by mistake can hardly be called“efficient.”)

“We are not unforgiving in our tax collection efforts. In fact, we offer substantial discounts for those who pay promptly their tax obligations. We also allow delinquent taxpayers to settle their obligations in easy installments after paying at least 30 percent
of their delinquency.”

(Why were the Del Rosarios not given such treatment? After the discovery of the error, why is the city government playing hardball instead of rectifying it?) “The case of the Del Rosarios is clearly an isolated case. We exert all efforts to notify real estate owners on their overdue obligations. We have not been arbitrary nor capricious in selling at public auction delinquent real estate properties.”

(Really? What effort? The Del Rosarios were living on the property that you sold. How come they could not be located before the auction but were easily found after the sale?

I am not heaping the blame on Mr. Endriga; He could not have foreseen everything that could go wrong. But his subordinates were clearly negligent and should be punished to prevent a repetition of this snafu.)