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Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Maxey: The law's majesty
By Ram Maxey
Bar None
THE family doctor said what I had was "almost" pneumonia, hence I needed to rest for about a week, during which I had to take daily medication-one tablet of this, two capsules of that everyday for five days, drink plenty of water and no softdrinks ever again.
Thank God for doctors like him. He doesn't look like the kind who will want to study nursing and join the hegira of Filipino doctors abroad to work as nurses. He doesn't need to.
While I was "away" fellow-columnist Gary C. wrote something about what city legal officer Melchor Quitain referred to as the "majesty of the law," which is supposed to be applied to those who break the law. Quitain's opinion had been sought with regards to the controversial statue of a naked David at Times Beach whose construction on government property he said was illegal.
"The law comes first," Quitain had said, evidently also referring to all illegal structures encroaching government property along Times Beach. "All other considerations must bow to its majesty."
Press sources point to anywhere from 200 to 300 illegal structures along Times Beach. Gary C. wonders if the majesty of the law would also be applied to their owners the way it was applied to the poor squatters on private property along Dacudao Avenue who now live(?) in shanties made out of carton boxes an sheets of plastics alongside the drainage canal which also probably serves as their common toilet.
And the clock is ticking away inexorably towards the Asean Tourism Forum (ATF) slated in Davao City in January 2006. Just hope that none of the thousands of delegates from Asia, Europe and the Americas would find themselves suddenly in the neighborhood of these poor squatters who were merely the ignorant victims of scrupulous landgrabbers and their equally crafty lawyers who led them astray. Those so-called "professional" squatters have long ago returned to their own homes following their massive eviction, leaving in their wake the 30-40 poor families they had previously enticed to join them in what eventually turned out to be a failed caper.
As for the 200 or so illegal structures along Times Beach, some of them reportedly owned by government officials, it would be interesting to know how the majesty of the law would be applied to them, considering that a good many of the squatters thereat are marginalized families who would become instant socio-economic problems of the community once evicted.
Gary C. suggests that the eyesore that is David be towed out to sea and sunk to serve as an artificial reef. Easier said than done. Those several tons of monstrosities would cost a pretty penny just to smash it to smithereens, not to mention towing it out to sea. Any other suggestion?
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (November 22, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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