They were their longtime neighbors in the area.ĭeputy Speaker Oaminal said the local government has writs of possession for all the houses that the DPWH demolishes. Earlier on Wednesday, August 5, another was taken down, as was another the day before. Just on Saturday, August 8, a house was torn down with a backhoe in the early morning. Of the 7 complainants, 3 have lost their homes. The local government, however, has shown no signs of stopping, let alone slowing down. (They are also controlled by the Oaminals.) Where to go during a pandemic? “ Hawak din po sila (RTC) ng mga Oaminal,” James said. The families went straight to the High Court, James said, because they did not trust their local courts. The DPWH, as the implementing agency of the project, has since demolished the homes of at least 5 of James’ neighbors in the 21-lot area.Ī total of 7 lot owners, including James’ family, have filed a case before the Supreme Court asking for a temporary restraining order against the local government and the DPWH to stop their demolition efforts. Sourced photoĪt a deadlock, the Ozamiz City local government filed a case with the Regional Trial Court Branch 15 in Ozamiz City and obtained writs of possession with the condition that the local government would compensate the families for the land it acquired. James’ family, for one, has held on to the title of their 275-sqm land since June 1962 and had built their house in the late 1990s. Home for decadesįor the families who have stayed in the area for decades, however, their patch of homeland was worth so much more. He said the value of the land was assessed to be below P200 per sqm. The Deputy Speaker said the families would have already gained with his initial offer. After the families resisted, he offered to double the offer to P1,000 per sqm, with half of the purchasing money coming from his own pocket, he said, because the local government unit could not pay them with its limited funds that year. Oaminal offered to pay P500 per square meter (sqm) for their land. The informal settlers, naturally, celebrated the idea, while the home and landowners like James’ family protested. James’ family saw Oaminal’s presentation. This was the same pitch he gave when he met up with the informal settlers and the home and land owners of Barangay Lam-an during a Purok meeting in late 2018. “The program is to give them housing to raise their standard of living,” he said, noting that aside from multi-level buildings, he wants to build a court, a daycare center, and a community market. Over a hundred families in Barangay Lam-an, he said, were either informal settlers or were homeowners living in cramped houses with poor sanitation. Sourced photoīuilding a resettlement complex in his barangay for informal settlers was a campaign promise of House Deputy Speaker Oaminal in the 2019 elections. Construction begins for the housing project envisioned by House Deputy Speaker Henry Oaminal. I appeal for their compassion towards their leaders because we have been working hard for the upliftment of the municipalities,” Oaminal said. We lead the district and the city with compassion. He added that he wanted the project to be in the city because that is what the informal settlers had told him they wanted. Oaminal argued that their city was only under general community quarantine and that the government must continue with its projects, including his thrust of providing housing to informal settlers in their barangay. In a phone interview with Rappler, Oaminal denied James’ claims, saying that the local government and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which was the implementing agency for the project, have already secured writs of possession from their regional trial court to evict the residents and land owners like James’ family. “They should stop this abuse of power, because it’s obviously harassment especially in this time of pandemic,” James said. No less than the Oaminals themselves live just 3 minutes away.īecause of the Oaminal family’s clout in the area, James said they have failed to gather help from the government itself to stop the evictions and demolitions, which were discouraged during the coronavirus pandemic. The lots in Purok 6 are considered prime estate as they are located in the center of the city. James said the eviction threat came from their barangay councilor Joel Patigayon, barangay captain Sancho Oaminal, and their congressman, House Deputy Speaker Misamis Occidental 2nd District Representative Henry Oaminal. We can’t sleep every night because from Monday to Friday, our councilors tell us that we need to pack up, because we will be next.)
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