Duterte gives ‘oligarchs’ three months to pay right taxes, wages or else

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday threatened to have the government take back its pieces of property now under the control of businesses that have been remiss in either paying taxes or in paying their employees their just salaries.

Duterte made the remark about a crackdown in the next three months in a speech before workers at a Labor Day celebration in Davao City.

“So within the next three months, ako nang ignon ang mga tag-iya ug diri nagkupot sa yuta sa gobyerno na wa mo mubayad sa inyong buwis amounting to billions, unya gagunit mo sa yuta sa gobyerno na gipagkitaan ninyo nga walay klaro na unsa nganong naabot sa inyo: Ug dili ninyo i-uli ang yuta sa gobyerno, I will ask the Filipino people to occupy the lands that are in your hands,” Duterte said.

[So within the next three months, I will tell those holding government lands who failed to pay their taxes amounting to billions, those earning from government lands but not paying you (workers) well: If you do not give back the lands of the government, I will ask the Filipino people to occupy the lands that are in your hands.]

“Naa sa Makati, Pasay, pangita na mo ug gwapong puwesto diha. Yes, because I said adto tang tanan, pangita mo ug puwesto, pagbutang namo sa inyong balay because it is yours. It cannot be theirs for all time,” he added.

[Look for your own spots in Makati, Pasay. Yes, because I said we will all go there. Look for a spot. Put up your own house because it is yours. It cannot be theirs for all time.]

“Start thinking and talking to the authorities,” Duterte said, this time addressing the wealthy, who he called oligarchs.

Duterte lamented how pieces of government properties could be controlled by a few families in the Philippines. 

“May mga propedad sa gobyerno na gipanggunitan lang ug pipila ka pamilya sa Pilipinas. Kaning mga dato, miski kinsang presidente, ilang kumpare. And so they have been enjoying privileges na wa gyud gihatag sa katawhan nga ila man unta,” Duterte said.

[There are government properties held be a few families in the Philippines. The rich befriend whoever is the president. And so they have been enjoying privileges which were not to the people when it should be rightfully theirs.]

“Naay mga propedad diri sa Pilipinas nga hantud karon ginagunitan sa mga oligarchs, maoy tag-iya ug negosyo, maoy tag-iya ug business empire, maoy tig-guba sa atong yuta. Wala silay pakialam, and they have been abusing the Filipino people,” he added.

[There are properties in the Philippines that until not held by the oligarchs, who own businesses, who own business empires, who destroyed our lands. They don't care, and they have been abusing the Filipino people.]

Mile Long

Duterte has been ranting about the 2.9-hectare lot called Mile Long property in Makati City, which was developed by Sunvar Realty Development Corporation. This company is owned by the Prieto and Rufino families, the same owners of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. 

“Sinong may-ari? I assure you after all of these things here, I will start to recover what is government’s property, including ‘yang Inquirer na ‘yan. The loudest, one of the loudest of it all. Crusader kuno. ‘T— ina, ‘yun pala crony rin ni… Eh kay Romualdez ‘yan eh, who is Philip Romualdez? He is the man of Prieto,” he told reporters on April 27.

The lot is actually owned by the National Power Corp. (Napocor), which leased the property to the Technology Resource Center Foundation Inc. (TRCFI) for 25 years from January 1, 1978 up to December 31, 2002.

But after the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, TRCFI was dissolved and the rights to the property were given to the Philippine Development Alternatives Foundation (PDAF). It was PDAF that entered into a sublease agreement with Sunvar to develop commercial facilities.

Napocor, however, intended not to renew the lease in 2002 and informed PDAF and Sunvar to vacate the property as the government planned to sell the lot. But the realty firm argued that it had the exclusive option to extend the lease for another 25 years under the same terms of the previous contract and refused to vacate the property even after a number of notices.

Napocor eventually filed a case against Sunvar through the Office of the Solicitor General headed by Agnes Devanadera at the Metropolitan Trial Court in Makati City in 2009.

The MTC in 2015 ruled in favor of the government and ordered Sunvar to vacate the property. It also directed Sunvar to pay back rentals amounting to P478.2 million as of May 2015, but with monthly rental of P3.2 million starting June 2015 until they leave the property.

But Sunvar was able to obtain an injunction order from the Regional Trial Court in Makati City, stopping the MTC. The government elevated the case to the Court of Appeals, which sided with Sunvar in its decision in 2016. — NB/BAP, GMA News