Fellow Senators Grace Poe Llamanzares and Francisco Escudero recently declared their intent to run for president and vice president, respectively. Escudero, in his announcement, stressed that ideal contenders for public office should only be beholden to the Filipino people.
MANILA (Mabuhay) — Vice-presidential race frontrunner Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero said it is high time the government seriously address the problem of land-grabbing and stop individuals or groups from illegally and forcibly taking the land of others, including those owned by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
“Land-grabbing involving both public and private lands should be stopped and land grabbers should be dealt with accordingly,” said Escudero, who is running as independent under the banner “Gobyernong may Puso” alongside leading presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe.
Escudero said he received numerous complaints regarding land grabbing, particularly in Antipolo City, where property owners, mostly OFWs, lost their lands by force, intimidation or misinformation.
“Land grabbing seems to be rampant in Antipolo City and yet authorities are not doing anything,” Escudero said, as he lamented that most of the victims are OFWs.
“It is unacceptable that the properties bought by OFWs with their hard-earned money accumulated over the years of working abroad, go away just like that,” he said.
Escudero, meanwhile, vowed to take back all government-owned lands illegally encroached by land-grabbing syndicates and use them for future socialized housing projects, if he and Poe are elected.
“We will retrieve all state lands in adverse possession of land mafias across the country and turn them into housing projects for the poor,” Escudero said.
The veteran lawmaker said such move is necessary in order to address the government’s backlog on socialized housing, which the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council estimated to about 5.8 million this year.
The “Gobyernong may Puso” tandem of Poe and Escudero intends to allocate 20 percent, or at least P600 billion, of annual national budget to social services such as education, health, pension and housing.