MWSS “shuffle” to takeover of waterless subdivisions

In a “praise” release, the Mayor of Parañaque announced that Malacañang has empowered the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) to provide service to waterless villages, especially those abandoned or neglected by developers or owners with the issuance of Executive Order 688.

Officials, leaders, and residents of BF Homes in Parañaque are rejoicing and thanking the President Arroyo’s landmark executive order through the efforts of the mayor.

But, hey, Malacañang has already empowered MWSS to takeover the water supply system in residential subdivision 30 years ago, for crying out loud!

Presidential Decree 1345 issued April 2, 1978, empowers the “MWSS” to “take over the operation and maintenance of centralized water systems of residential subdivisions within its territorial jurisdiction …” and “shall thereafter cause the system to operate at the desired level … chargeable to the subdivision owner/developer…”

Unfortunately, as we all know, MWSS is no longer in the water distribution business in Metro Manila. It consequently does not have financial and personnel resources for a takeover contemplated by the Presidential Decree. The Executive Order will most probably empower MWSS to takeover the water system of BF Waterworks and turn it over to Maynilad, the franchisee south of Metro Manila.

The problem with this “shuffle” is that the cost to render the system operable chargeable to the subdivision owner/developer under the Presidential Decree will be shifted to the homeowners. And to sweeten the pie, Maynilad will be charging commercial rate (higher than residential rate) probably to the existing BF Waterworks or homeowners associations who in turn will be adding their own operating markups. Homeowners will be told to be grateful for the “equal sufferance” supply of water (rationing) at a cost less than that of “dirty” water delivered by enterprising water haulers.

As P.T. Barnum used to say, “Suckers are born every minute.”

MMDA on BF car “sticker” conflict: clueless

Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani F. Fernando was quoted as saying that “all roads are public property” and that “even roads in private residential areas are no longer considered private, according to law” on the question of issuance of car “stickers” of private subdivisions, particularly BF Homes Parañaque Subdivision.

The kind of things the chairman is talking about is not trivial to me. They have driven me to disgust and near despair in the recent years.

After having scrimped and saved and then spent my life savings for a house in BF Homes Parañaque in order to enjoy well-deserved peace and quiet away from the madding crowd, I find the same madding crowd practically in my front yard, complete with cars, container vans, heavy trucks and squatters to boot.

The MMDA Chairman is quoted as saying: “All roads are normally open. The closing of roads require public hearings. A road is no longer private. Any road customarily used as a road is public.”

Good grief! The Chairman is clueless.

The takeover by the local government of the subdivision roads of BF Homes subdivision is patently illegal. The roads, sidewalks, parks and open spaces are privately titled to the developer. As such, the local government cannot simply take over private property without due process. In the words of the Supreme Court in Phicomsat v. Alcuaz 180 SCRA 218 “[a]ny regulation, therefore, which operates as an effective confiscation of private property or constitutes an arbitrary or unreasonable infringement of property rights is void, because it is repugnant to the constitutional guaranties of due process and equal protection of the laws.”

On the constitutional proscription against the use of public funds for private purposes, this is what the Supreme Court said in the case G.R. No. 148357 Aniano A. Albon vs. Bayani F. Fernando, et al:

“The ruling in the 1991 White Plains Association decision relied on by both the trial and appellate courts was modified by this Court in 1998 in White Plains Association v. Court of Appeals. Citing Young v. City of Manila, this Court held in its 1998 decision that subdivision streets belonged to the owner until donated to the government or until expropriated upon payment of just compensation.”

“Section 335 of RA 7160 is clear and specific that no public money or property shall be appropriated or applied for private purposes. This is in consonance with the fundamental principle in local fiscal administration that local government funds and monies shall be spent solely for public purposes.”

“In Pascual v. Secretary of Public Works, the Court laid down the test of validity of a public expenditure: it is the essential character of the direct object of the expenditure which must determine its validity and not the magnitude of the interests to be affected nor the degree to which the general advantage of the community, and thus the public welfare, may be ultimately benefited by their promotion. Incidental advantage to the public or to the State resulting from the promotion of private interests and the prosperity of private enterprises or business does not justify their aid by the use of public money.”

“Therefore, the use of LGU funds for the widening and improvement of privately-owned sidewalks is unlawful as it directly contravenes Section 335 of RA 7160. This conclusion finds further support from the language of Section 17 of RA 7160 which mandates LGUs to efficiently and effectively provide basic services and facilities. The law speaks of infrastructure facilities intended primarily to service the needs of the residents of the LGU and “which are funded out of municipal funds.” It particularly refers to “municipal roads and bridges” and “similar facilities.”

“Applying the rules of ejusdem generis, the phrase “similar facilities” refers to or includes infrastructure facilities like sidewalks owned by the LGU. Thus, RA 7160 contemplates that only the construction, improvement, repair and maintenance of infrastructure facilities owned by the LGU may be bankrolled with local government funds.”

The issuance of vehicular stickers is not just an excuse to “raise funds”. In BF Homes Parañaque Subdivision, stickers serve as traffic volume regulator and computer data banks (of about 40,000 motorists) provide immediate identification of the criminal elements in our midst.

As to collection of fees, Rule V, Section 5 of the HLURB Rules on the Registration and Supervision of Homeowners Association (series of 2004) recognizes the right of homeowners association to impose and collect reasonable fees on members and non-members residents who avail of or benefit from the facilities and services of the association, to defray necessary operation expenses; and to exercise other powers necessary for the governance and operation of the association.

The conflict in BF Homes started in 1997 with the re-zoning of the subdivision’s main roads to raise revenues for the municipality to qualify for cityhood being pushed by Congressman Roilo Golez. Yet today, like the biblical fence-sitter of old, he washes his hands of the responsibility for the destruction of the residential character of our neighborhood.

Be that as it may, this is my unsolicited advice to BF homeowners: Don’t take a politician’s statements at face value. “Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him.” [Charles de Gaulle, one-time President of France].

More unsolicited advice: If you do care about all this nonsense, what can you do? Well, you have to speak up and make time to fight a guerrilla war. Write letters and emails of protest. Telephone their offices. Politicians may be sloppy about spending our tax money, but they fear negative publicity. There’s political power in numbers. Get your friends involved in the action.

Probing the HLURB takeover of UBFHAI

Respect, as we all know, is the state of being held in high esteem or honor. It is earned by treating others in an honest and caring way. When someone feels that you are not being fair or that you are putting your self interest ahead of his, you will not earn respect. Failing to deliver a favor or perform a service is the quickest way to lose it.

Our government, politicians and public officials are famous for shooting their mouths off and not following through. The restriction of “residence only” written in our transfer certificate of titles is a mute testimony that a government guarantee is not worth the paper it is written on.

It is sad that in our struggle to preserve the residential character of our neighborhood, BF Homes, Parañaque, residents think that the local government is the obstacle rather than the ally. For years the local government has been licensing commercial establishments in violation of zoning ordinance.

In 1997, the local government passed an ordinance that commercialized our main roads and made easy access to our homes by non-residents. To homeowners who value the security and privacy of their homes, this ordinance is frustrating and unpleasant. To raise revenues for the municipality to qualify for cityhood being pushed by Congressman Golez, the privately titled main streets of BF Homes were reclassified as commercial despite the lack of “… the written conformity or consent of the dully organized homeowners association, or in the absence of the latter, by the majority of the lot buyers in the subdivision” as required by Section 22 of PD-957.

The ordinance legalized many commercial establishments intruding into residential areas. These firms do not have their own drainage systems so they discharge wastes into the drainage systems of the subdivision which was designed for the use of homeowners, causing pollution and destruction of our roads.

You don’t have to look further than Parañaque for a preview of what is coming. Main street BF Homes will be transformed into another Doña Soledad Avenue of Better Living Subdivision.

The local government appropriated the homeowners’ park by building a barangay hall, police and fire department buildings, and a covered tennis court. It repaired the sidewalks and installed additional lampposts on the declared commercial roads. The roads, sidewalks, parks and open spaces in BF Homes are privately titled to the developer. Thus, no public money could be used on them.

In undertaking the projects, the mayor violated the constitutional proscription against the use of public funds for private purposes, as well as Sections 335 and 336 of RA 7160, and the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. This means that the mayor and the councilors can be held liable for misappropriation or misuse of public funds, which can lead to the filing of graft and corruption against them.

Of course this is outrageous. You’d think that with a dismal record of doing nothing the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) would all resign in shame but no! Instead, Arbiter Dustan San Vicente praised himself and HLURB for protecting the homeowners at the congressional hearing probing into the takeover of the homeowners association by HLURB.

The takeover, without a writ of execution, is based on the complaint of a former president who alleged that “there were missing funds and equipment and other anomalies during the current term of the current United BF Homeowners’ Association [UBFHAI] President Celso Reyes.” That sounds like a criminal complaint and not included in the job description of the HLURB, for crying out loud. Any decision rendered without jurisdiction is a total nullity.

Arbiter San Vicente gave a long winded explanation of interlocutory order that confuses instead of clarifying his issuances. Technically, an interlocutory order is not appealable, we are told. Really? If so, why did the board of commissioners nullify his 5 orders?

Interlocutory Order is defined as an order determining an intermediate issue, made in the course of a pending litigation which does not dispose of the case, but abides further court action resolving the entire controversy. Such orders are not generally appealable until after the entire matter has been disposed of by final order or judgment.

I cannot imagine a regular district court issuing a writ of execution while the case is being appealed and heard by a superior court. That legal mumbo jumbo of the arbiter is a lot of nonsense and will not hold water. He offered no explanation of his issuances despite the HLURB rule that “the filing of an appeal … shall have the effect of automatically staying the execution of any decision or order…”

I can only shake my head in disbelief at the claim that the arbiter is doing a good job of protecting the homeowners. Good grief! The word “chutzpah” doesn’t come close to describing it. San Vicente’s self-appointed management committee forced open the Association’s vault and divested it with all its content of undetermined amount of money and documents, broke open all the filling cabinets, and took some of the documents out of the clubhouse. One of the appointed management committee member even took 2 vaults out of the clubhouse. Protection? Give me a break!

Why do these people do what they want, without worrying about sanctions? There are speculations, many unsavory. But I like this one: “Because they can.”

Nutrition and Health

“If you have your health, you have everything.” Don’t many people often say this? We would gladly exchange everything for our health. We pay doctors our entire savings to heal us, if necessary.

But not everyone who says, “If you have your health, you have everything”— only the old, the infirm or people whose health is at risk.

The laws of reality represent a real sequence of cause and effect; we live in effect of them. We must know them for such knowledge limits our freedom to guess but increases our freedom to act and think. Thus the law of gravity may mean that if from the top of a high cliff you see a man drowning, you may have to go down instead of jumping. Jumping represents a short-cut but it would destroy you and not help the drowning man.

The law of physical order follows the same sequence of cause and effect. Eating unhealthy foods produces unhealthy and fatal consequences. We are tempted to do short-cuts so we go to prayer healings or get somebody to pray over us when we get sick. It’s like jumping from a hilltop and expecting our Creator to catch us in mid-air or suspend the effect of gravity.

Our modern diet causes enormous problems for our health. But taking good care of ourselves is not just a health luxury. It’s an absolute necessity if we don’t want to be held hostage by pharmaceutical drugs, blood checkups and hospital stays. Not doing this only takes away more and more of our energies, our freedoms – even our lives.

The solution to our ailments is to get back into our natural state of vibrant health by “cleansing” ourselves from the inside, allowing our body to rest and heal itself. Think about it: For every disease, our immune system is triggered and it immediately starts fighting it. Our body can restore every wound, diseased organ or damaged cell that it needs to – but it cannot do that if we keep polluting it.

Most adults need 2,000 and 3,000 calories a day. Women and smaller less active people need fewer calories; men and larger, more active people need more calories. Wellness experts tell us that the distribution of calories should be: 40% to 50% from carbohydrates, 30% from fat and 20% from protein. We are strictly to avoid margarine, vegetable shortening and all products listing them as ingredients and all products made with partially hydrogenated oils of any kind.

Like most of us I simply cannot get the fruits and vegetables I want or figure out how to achieve a balanced diet of 33 nutrients. Instead, I take a good daily multivitamin-multimineral supplement for gaps in my diet.

You achieve good health through eating healthy food. There's no shortcut. There isn't a pill or an herb you can take to counteract an unhealthy diet. Don't roll the dice and gamble your life away. If you are under diet restriction, boost your immune system by taking a daily multivitamin-multimineral food supplement of 33 nutrients which requires little or no digestion. I survived a seven arterial heart bypass, failing kidneys, deteriorating prostate condition and falling weight by following a healthy and active lifestyle. I am a living proof that it works.

For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health which somebody sent via email. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans

CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you. Lol!

Happy New Year!