"SAGASA MILITAR."

This was how businesswoman Flor Rosario described what she said are the flagrant disregard for the law, the local people, and the environment by JELP Real Estate Development Corp., which is building 36 two-story townhouses on a one-hectare lot near her home at the middle-class Vermont Park Executive Village in barangay Mayamot, Lower Antipolo.

Rosario and her Vermont Park neighbors have complained that the JELP housing project has exacerbated the floods that visit the valley that is Lower Antipolo every time the rains come. On days when there is a heavy downpour, floodwaters now rise thigh-high in some parts of her neighborhood, said Rosario. In other parts, she said, the water can even be waist-deep.

Before the construction, the flooding reached only up to their ankles, at most it went up knee-high, residents said. But because the JELP houses are being built one-and-a-half meters higher than their neighbors, on an area that used to be the catch basin for floodwaters, the problem has become so much worse. The traffic, garbage and sanitation in Vermont Park have also deteriorated since JELP's construction, say over a dozen residents interviewed for this report.

The plight of Vermont Park residents could be just another story of urban misery, except that JELP, the company that they blame for the flooding, is a real estate firm formed by President Joseph Estrada, First Lady Luisa Pimentel Ejercito and their children Jose 'Jinggoy,' Jacqueline and Jude.

Vermont Park is a subdivision 10 kilometers northeast of Quezon City that was developed in the 1980s by Sta. Lucia Realty and Development Inc. Straddling the Marcos Highway, it lies on a valley surrounded by creeks, at the foot of the Antipolo hills.

What makes this otherwise nondescript housing estate's story extraordinary is that neither JELP nor its contractors have secured permits, clearances and licenses required by law for any of the 36 houses that are now nearing completion.

In March 1999, the city government of Antipolo ordered JELP "to cease and desist" operations because of these violations. Yet JELP ignored the warning and continues to build its houses sans permits.

When asked about this, the President's son, San Juan Mayor Jose 'Jinggoy' Ejercito, only said, "I know about JELP but I cannot say anything about this (project)."

In an "ambush" interview at his San Juan office last week, the PCIJ and "The Probe Team" told the mayor about the complaints of Vermont Park residents. Ejercito snapped back, "Eh, di mag-complain sila (Let them complain)!"

The First Lady, who is the treasurer and controlling stockholder of JELP, refused to be interviewed. But Romeo V. Escalona, JELP's project engineer at the Antipolo site, blamed the lack of permits on the local residents' refusal to issue a homeowners' clearance. Without such a clearance, he said, the company could not apply for a building permit.

Vermont Park residents said that Escalona approached them only last week for a homeowners' clearance, but they said they could not issue this as JELP had not responded to the Antipolo government's notice of violation.

The residents feel betrayed. In 1996, the officers of their homeowners association took their oath before then Vice President Estrada at his office at the PICC Complex.

"He told us that when he developed his property at Vermont Park, he would help us with the flooding problem," resident Celeste Caragay, a nurse, recalled.

Ramon Ramos, her neighbor, remembered: "He told us he was planning to build one-story houses so that the view from our houses would not be blocked."

But the residents were soon disappointed. In 1998 and 1999, clearing and filling work commenced at the one-hectare lot in Vermont Park that JELP acquired in June 1993.

Black, murky filling materials emitting the stench of sewage were dumped in the area by trucks, some bearing the name of the local government of San Juan. The trucks came in the mornings and sometimes late into the night, residents recalled.

Once, Flor Rosario, whose house borders the JELP property, complained to the truck driver. She got a scolding from him instead, "Gaga! Hindi mo ba alam kay Erap ito (Idiot! Don't you know this is Erap's property)?"

Residents say that from 1997 to 1998, Estrada and his son, the San Juan mayor, were frequent visitors at Vermont Park. "They came here nearly every week," said Rosario. They were inspecting the property. Their vehicles would be in a convoy, and they came with security." Her neighbors Caragay, Ramos and other officers of the local homeowners association confirmed this.

In January this year, the residents were startled by the sight of nearly 200 construction workers and huge trucks of construction materials that invaded the quiet of their neighborhood. Bit by bit, JELP's plans unraveled, and the residents realized that their views and their welfare were not going to be considered.

JELP hired 13 small- and medium-size contractors to build 36 townhouses and a clubhouse on the property. One contractor, Ampher Construction and Development Corp., was awarded five houses. Its contract with JELP showed the official starting date of the project as January 12, 2000 and that the construction was to finish in 120 days.

The JELP project stood out in Antipolo for the degree to which it has flouted the law. Despite the harm caused to neighboring residents, the company has refused to obtain the numerous clearances, permits, licenses and other documents that owners and developers of housing projects must secure before they can begin construction.

The Antipolo government' issuance of a notice of violation against JELP on March 18, 1999 was the first indication that the firm was violating the law. The notice, signed by Mayor Angelito C. Gatlabayan and Engineer Ignacio E. Asuncion of the City Planning and Development Office, cited JELP for "violation of preliminary approval and locational clearance/development permit."

It instructed JELP to "cease and desist operation until further notice or permitted by this office," and to "report to this office within 3 days from receipt hereof and submit pertinent documents relative thereto."

Records show that one Conrad Abuan received the notice on March 19,1999 on JELP's behalf. But 17 months after the notice of violation was issued, JELP still had not sent a representative to the City Hall nor suspended work in deference to the notice. Instead, construction went on and the 36 houses are supposed to be inaugurated in two weeks.

Neither did JELP get an environmental clearance certificate from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, as housing developments of this sort are required to by law. A check with the DENR found no ECC issued in JELP's favor.

A check with the Antipolo government also found that not a single building permit was issued for any of the 36 townhouses and the clubhouse being constructed on the site. The law requires individual permits for each house. Neither did Antipolo give JELP a development permit.

The proper procedure is for developers to obtain these permits and then submit them to the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), so they could obtain a Certificate of Registration and License to Sell (CRLS). But the HLURB had no CRLS application at all from JELP as of last week.

The CRLS is issued when it is assured that the developer has set aside 30 percent of the project area to common spaces and another 20 percent to socialized housing. The latter may take the form of a joint venture with the local government to build low-cost houses or purchase of socialized housing bonds of equivalent value. There is no evidence to show that JELP has complied with these requirements.

HLURB rules say that only when the ECC, the CRLS, and the development permits have been issued can the property developer apply with the Land Registration Authority (LRA) to subdivide the land titles and sell them individually.

In an apparent violation of procedures, however, the LRA allowed the subdivision of titles in April this year. The City Planning and Development Office and the Engineering Office of Antipolo said the subdivision is irregular.

Magdalena Vergara, assistant chief of the HLURB Licensing Division's Technical Services, sees JELP's decision to subdivide the titles as a clear indication of the firm's plan to sell the 36 houses it is building in Antipolo. But it cannot do so unless it gets a CRLS.

Only when the CRLS is obtained from the HLURB can JELP apply for a building permit from the city government's Engineering Office and start construction. But before the construction commences, the developer is required to obtain a barangay clearance certificate, a homeowners' clearance certificate, an ECC, a development permit, water and sanitation permit, tax assessment and declaration, tax payment certificate, etc.

Permits and clearances must also be obtained from the City Health Office for sanitation and water potability, and from the National Water Resources Board for the water diggings to be done at the construction site. There is no record of JELP having obtained any of these permits.

It was after the publication last July of a PCIJ story on the many companies that President Estrada and his families own, that JELP took action.

At about 5 p.m. on July 27, we witnessed a meeting of JELP contractors with project engineer Escalona. "O, nabasa niyo ba 'yung balita tungkol sa mga kumpanya ni Presidente? Nabanggit duon 'yung JELP. Kaya kailangan ayusin na natin ang ating building permits, kung hindi, malilintikan tayo (Did you read those articles about the President's companies? JELP's name was mentioned there. We need to fix our building permits or we're going to get hit)," a woman told the contactors gathered around a table of pancit and soft drinks at the JELP project site in Antipolo.

Escalona told the contractors that they must secure building permits for the housing units assigned to them. "Siguro, may makakausap naman sa munisipyo (We can probably talk to someone at City Hall)," a man butted in.

By July 28, three applications for a building permit for three housing units at the JELP project had been submitted to the City Planning and Development Office and the Engineering Office of Antipolo. Two were returned to the contractors because the documents were incomplete and the land titles "do not tally."

By August 14, three more applications for zoning clearance and development permit had been filed with the city government. No action has been taken because the documents submitted were incomplete or not in order.

Antipolo's Project Development Officer Reynaldo Baltazar says that in the absence of a development permit and other requirements, JELP's housing project may be considered illegal.

But because JELP continuously ignores the notice of violation that the city government had issued in March 1999, Baltazar reckons that the next step is for Antipolo to raise JELP's case to the HLURB.

HLURB, a quasi-judicial agency, can declare violators of housing laws in direct contempt, fine them for up to P20,000 per violation, and deputize the police to arrest and jail the guilty parties.

Engineer Peter Ulaybar says that while fines are all that the city government may impose on JELP, the Antipolo Engineering Office is determined to enforce the law, even if JELP is owned by the First Family. "We have no choice, this is our job," he said in an interview.

The City Engineer's office has imposed on JELP a 100-percent surcharge on fees for failure to obtain permits within the required period. Ulaybar assured that JELP cannot antedate documents covering its project. "Those dates are in the receipts. You can't change them."

Baltazar acknowledged that a sense of foreboding has gripped civil servants assigned to enforce the law because JELP is a company owned by the President's family. But there is also a sense among Antipolo's civil servants that after last year's Cherry Hills tragedy, the rules should be followed.

"Madami sa aming nasaktan 'dun (A lot of us had to take the rap)," Baltazar recalled, referring to city employees who were fired or suspended after a portion of the Cherry Hills subdivision collapsed and left 57 people dead.

Lawyer Noel Parel, vice president of the homeowners association, sees that of all the things going wrong for the JELP project, the biggest is one that spooks the President himself. "If it's true that JELP has not obtained permits and clearances, then he has no moral ascendancy to lead and to enforce the law," said Parel.

His fellow officer in the association, Celeste Caragay, asks, "Eh sino pa ang tatakbuhan namin ngayon? Presidente na itong kalaban namin. (Who do we run to for help now? It is the President himself who has turned against us)."



Copyright © 2000 All rights reserved.
PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM