Is it me or is the Philippines really a country that has a decades-long celebration of poverty? One of the biggest problems today is the squatting problem. What has caused the squatting problem to escalate? You can thank the repealing of the anti-squatting act from the current Philippine constitution AND maybe, we should all thank Joey "Squatterman" Lina. Then you also have Filipinos who have their wrong sense of pity which includes condoning to the wrongs that their fellow countrymen do. There are the pro-squatter crowd who consider themselves as "humanitarian" and "pro-environment" which is NOT the case.
How are pro-squatter people actually non-humanitarian?
Whether they like it or not - their so-called stance for "humanity" is questionable when they are for squatting. I do agree that businessmen can be human rights violators but are all businessmen human rights violators? Some businessmen even treat their employees with utmost respect and dignity so why lump them with those who don't? They want to blame the businessmen for abuses but what about the squatters?
You have poor people living in the Philippines who earn their money as legitimately as possible. You have these poor people who get a job, have a good employer who pays them well, they may have even bought a small decent house to live in, they're stocking food, and everyone is doing their part to pay for basic needs. They have done everything to at least try and get their basic needs met. Nope, I'm not talking about the 4Ps program where people look like they're just waiting for a shower of gold coins. I'm talking about job creation which happens through capitalism or the emphasis on private ownership of capital goods which hence creates businesses. No capitalism means no jobs. Worse, socialism spends the earnings of capitalism like an ungrateful child who spends one's parents hard-earned money on nonsense.
So how are squatters actually human rights violators themselves? You can think that they are depriving their FELLOW POOR of what the latter owns. It's not just the rich who suffer from legalized squatting. The poor who work for the rich to make their ends meet without relying on handouts are entitled to enjoy the fruits of their labor. However, I've seen squatters steal utilities such as water and electricity from their FELLOW POOR. How can that be helpful to the poor to be pro-squatting? If you want to help the poor then don't be "pro-poor" but be pro-improvement for the poor. But pro-squatting people apparently want to see squatters increase.
So why are these pro-squatters, well pro-squatters? It would be easy to see poor people are very easy to exploit by the rich. They want the poor-rich gap to widen for this reason - it gives them an easy, bribable army. If all the poor at least had decent jobs and could make both ends meet then why even bother to get exploited by the rich?
How are pro-squatter people also anti-environment?
I don't want to deny that there are corrupt businessmen who waste resources indiscriminately (such as illegal logging and reckless mining) and dump their waste products irresponsibly. However, to pin the blame exclusively to businessmen is just stupid for this reason. You can think of poor people who work for the businessmen. The poor people who dumped the waste products into the river for their rich bosses are accomplices. Poor people who participate in crime syndicates should also be arrested and not just their higher-ups. The poor can't be declared innocent just because they're poor.
Squatters are no different than the poor people who work for corrupt businessmen. I remembered going to the slum areas on a class trip. The whole slum area was full of indiscriminate disposal of one's waste whether it's their body waste or garbage. They don't even know how to elaborate it without making you puke. They don't have good hygiene habits on their bodies nor the environment. It's really not a pleasant thing. Worse, you can see they throw away all their waste into the bodies of water which they would later drink. Okay, I'm getting gross right now, aren't I? So tell me how do these squatters even contribute to environmental preservation?
We can consider the wastes that they dispose of. Do you even know why the body is designed in such a way to remove waste? It's because these wastes will sooner or later poison the person with pathogens. Can you imagine throwing all that into the drinking water which is supposed to help the body remove toxins inside it? Do you even consider the fact that throwing garbage into the water makes it an excellent breeding ground for some species of more dangerous mosquitos? It would also invite rats there where you can get contaminated with leptospirosis. You can think that garbage thrown into the sewers promote flooding which in turn also spreads more contaminants around. This, in turn, spreads diseases. Don't tell me that these are any less harmful than the contaminants that corrupt rich businessmen dump away?
You can see how these people aren't even pro-environment by how they conduct their fun runs. How can you claim to be fighting for environmental preservation when you just throw your garbage anywhere? You don't even bother to clean up the mess behind leading to floods and pests? If they're truly pro-environment then why are slums well, dirty?