The defender

Last July 1, national news sources reported that Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte was caught on video camera punching a court sheriff of the Davao Regional Trial Court Branch 15 who was serving a demolition order in Barangay Kapitan Tomas Monteverde Sr. Suliman in Agdao.
The demolition order was issued to eradicate the shanties of 217 families in the area owend by the Davao Enterprise Corporation and was scheduled to begin at 9am in July 1. Duterte reportedly asked the court sheriff to delay the demolition for two hours as she would be visiting flood-stricken areas to distribute relief goods to affected families that morning of July 1 (Davao City residents were struck by flash floods in five barangays on the night of June 28 where the death toll has reached 30).
Duterte was reportedly concerned that violence might erupt in the area if the demolition took place and she was not present. The court sheriff, Abe Andres, did not heed the mayor’s request and proceeded to serve the court order as his job entailed. As the demolition team started their task, tension broke out in the area causing several residents and a policeman to be injured and required medical attention. The sheriff, because of the punches he suffered, also had to be taken to the hospital as he suffered contusions above his eye.
The next day, July 2, Interior and Local Government as announced by Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo announced that an investigation on the matter will be done and is now ongoing. Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez of the Supreme Court said that “there are certain facts we need to straighten out” as he heard conflicting reports on the incident. Some said at the time in question the demolition hasn’t even started yet, while others said that an engineer arrived to merely survey the area covered by the demolition. Marquez stressed that he is looking to prevent incidents like this where regular court processes get interrupted.
In a statement to the Philippine Star, Duterte stressed that her asking for a delay was not because she did not want the demolition to take place, she merely wanted to ensure that a demolition with no incident of violence to take place. She added that although she admitted that she lost her temper, she was only concerned that people got hurt and this could have been prevented had her request been granted. For his part, Andres said that he did not expect the mayor to attack him as he was merely doing his job.
The incident elicited mixed reactions from other political figures, as well as Filipinos not only in the country. Senator Juan Ponce Enrile said that Duterte should face administrative sanctions for hitting an office of the court who was merely fulfilling his duty, while Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim said that he would have reacted the same way as Duterte did because the issue of the safety of the residents is concerned. A spokesperson for Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, on the other hand, said that they believe issues like that should be settled through dialogue.
In the midst of the exchange of varying opinions, it seems that the real issue here is being put in a backburner: the containment of illegal settlers and, if needed, the provision of proper relocation sites for them. The local government should instigate measures to first and foremost prevent the spread of illegal settlers and should evictions be required, they should create committees who should ensure there would be peaceful demolitions. The local government should also study and evaluate the causes of why informal settlers grow in numbers and address these concerns immediately. It is not helpful to anyone to direct our energy and effort to finger-pointing on who’s wrong and who’s right in the incident. What would be helpful is for us to work together in coming up with ideas and solutions to prevent further similar incidents like that in the future. This is the only way that we can move forward.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(NYNJ July 8-13, 2011 Sec A pg. 6)