WE learned a lot of things from Mrs. Daisy Sanchez and Mr. Placido Cerdanio on the complaints of Megaworld relocatees that reached the Iloilo Office of Usec Larry Jamora.

One of these complaints was the reported Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) entered into by the developer of Megaworld and the city government.

In this MOA, according to this complaint, the developer agreed to give each relocate P50,000 for their relocation to their resettlement site in Brgy. Lanit, Jaro, now more popularly known as Megaworld Village.

Mrs. Sanchez said they have a copy of this MOA. However, the person who has it in possession was not at home at that time.

She informed, though, that this MOA was later scrapped. “Mr. Firmeza, himself, informed us of this during the symposium in connection with the Solidarity Week of the Urban Poor last December 5.”

Asked whether they (the relocatees) were informed about this scrapping of the MOA, Mrs. Sanchez said “No!” Without this MOA, it appeared from our conversation with Mrs. Sanchez and Mr. Cerdanio that whoever played middleman negotiated with the individual relocatees for also their individual asking “disturbance fees”.

Mrs. Sanchez said she only received P7,000 along with several relocatees. Others, she said to her dismay, received as much as P10,000 and P15,000. She could not, however, say by what criteria these varying amounts were based.

Mr. Cerdanio, who decided to leave the old Iloilo Airport Area with his family much later than Mrs. Sanchez and her own family, informed, however, that he was able to negotiate for an asking fee of P70,000. A policeman (a certain Sarmiento, he recalled), whose household left on the same date with them, also received the same amount.

Mr. Cerdanio added that those who left after them were not as fortunate, though, receiving only from P30,000 to P35,000.

He attributed their higher disturbance fee to their lawyer friend who played go-between his family and the developer’s negotiator, whose name he could not recall by then.

Asked if he could prove he received P70,000, Mr. Cerdanio, however, said that no receipt was issued to him for that “areglo” of P70,000.

I could not imagine that this simple man would be lying. If so, there is a likelihood that the middleman gave a copy of a faked receipt to the developer who commissioned him for the job, in which he might have bloated the amount to gain from it.

And if he did the same thing with the many other relocatees – transacting with them without issuing receipts – he must have earned a lot from them for himself and his conspirators.

To be fair to Mr. Firmeza, he could not have been one of these conspirators. I also hope that Mr. Cerdanio only forgot, so that no one need be suspected for illicitly gaining from these transactions. That transaction for P70,000, according to Mr. Cerdanio, himself, occurred in September of 2008 yet.

Another complaint was about the acquisition of their lots, supposed to be equally enjoyed by the relocatees at about 50 to 55 square meters per relocatee.

Mrs. Sanchez and Mr. Cerdanio said their lots were supposed to be donated to them by Megaworld, yet no title to any of their lots has been issued since they relocated here at Megaworld Village over a year ago, either directly from Megaworld or through the ICUPAO.

“Where are these titles of ownership to our lots?” they asked.

The three of us, of course, do not know. Perhaps, Mr. Firmeza does. He was not, however, around at that time.

The other complaint of the relocatees here that has reached Usec Jamora was about the lack of basic services in their relocation site, which the law mandates. The three of us who visited the Megaworld Village last December 13 were able to personally confirm this lack of basic services at the Megaworld Village, which we informed our readers in Part 1 of this series of articles.

What remains now is the evaluation/recommendation report of Mr. Nofuente, a copy of which he will furnish Usec Jamora, ICUPAO and other concerned agencies.

Mr. Nofuente also promised to give us a copy of this report, so that we may publish it here for public information.

One Response to “Megaworld Village – Part 3”

• 1
  benjie estuche
  December 21st, 2009 23:09

  Hi Wency,

  Mustah na kamo da?Merry Christmas to all!

  Benjie

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