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Refer to: Dale Zapata
833-4507/833-2148
HEAD OF BIG TIME PROFESSIONAL SQUATTING SYNDICATE NABBED
15 March 2005
PROVING
true to his word, Vice President Noli “Kabayan” De
Castro announced that Wilfredo “Willy” Sumulong Torres, reportedly the
head of
a big time professional squatting syndicate, was arrested today on the
strength
of various cases filed by the National Task Force Against Professional
Squatters and Squatting Syndicates (NTFPSSS) under the Housing and
Urban
Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).
Torres
was presented today during a press conference at the
HUDCC in Makati
City.
The
Department of Justice has previously issued a resolution
accusing Torres and his agents (Collamar, Raquedan, Bangug, and John
Does)
guilty of 17 counts of falsification of public documents and violation
of
Section 27 of the Urban and Housing Development Act particularly on
professional squatting and squatting syndicates.
“As
I have repeatedly said, we will give these squatting
syndicates no quarters. They are worst than criminals, taking advantage
of the
urban poor who only dream of having their own houses and lots,”
according to De
Castro.
De
Castro said the modus operandi of the Torres Group and other
syndicates include --falsifying documents using contacts within the
Assessor’s
Office, the Register of Deeds, the Land Registration Authority, and the
Bureau
of Lands; organizing themselves using Titulo de Propriedad 4136, and
original
land title 01-4; and organizing urban poor associations only as fronts
and
assumed community leaders with the backing of certain officials from a
government institution.
The
Torres Group operates in Lucena
City, Quezon City,
Muntinlupa, Taguig, Cavite,
and Rizal.
Aside
from the Torres Group, the HUDCC, in coordination with the
Philippine National Police (PNP), is also running after the
Tallano-Madrigal-Acop group, the Rodriguez group, the Don Mariano San
Pedro y
Esteban Estate and the Maysilo Estate, all believed to be notorious
squatting
syndicates, according to a report of the PNP’s Directorate for
Investigation
and Detective Management. De Castro, however, stresses the urgent need
to plug
some loopholes in the country’s justice system to ensure that the heads
of
squatting syndicates, once apprehended, cannot post bail.
“The
irony of it is that, this is a bailable offense so we
cannot keep him (Torres) in jail. He can be set free upon posting bail.
I am
calling on our legislators to study the feasibility of treating the
heads of
squatting syndicates as heinous criminals. That way, they can no longer
afford
the luxury of posting bail and hence, stop victimizing countless
hapless
families,” De Castro pointed out.
The
NTFPSSS is, at present, conducting an information campaign
in areas where these syndicates have been known to operate.
©
Copyright
2005
Office of the Vice President (OVP) 
Management Information Services
Division (MISD). All rights reserved.
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