Some of you will know that the residents of a poor town in the Philippines were given eviction notices recently. The terms were 15 days notice and to remove "any improvements they had made on the land". This included the church build there (picture).
Now for most people, not the church, this meant being homeless; men, women, children and babies, young and old. With nowhere to go, it was devastating. As a result, the people were in fighting mood, with one octogenarian vowing to die rather than leave; and she meant it.
The town leader got involved and the history soon started to become clear. There had been 2 hearings where the land had been claimed by an "out of towner". Both failed. But then a third hearing, that no one knew about, had succeeded. The local counsellor was approached and an investigation begun.
Well some weeks later, just a few days ago from this writing, we heard the result. An official from the capital Manila came down. The claim would be contested and it would the the government that contests it. The judge who ordered the evictions was removed from office. The claimant, in view of this has dropped the claim.
It was good to see the government standing up so strongly for those who were so poor. It is one of the good, but untold stories of the current president, so strongly maligned for being controversial, who has vowed to remove corruption from the country. The country's recent history has rulers who have shown no such concern.
And now the people will be issued with deeds to the properties they "own". It's like buying it free. And there will be, of course, with the official ownership, the appropriate property tax.
I think this time we may find people who are pleased to pay the tax!
by
Terry
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