By Rio N. Araja

METRO Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando has criticized Commission on Human Rights Chairman Leila de Lima for asking the judiciary to expand the coverage of the writ of amparo to include squatters.

De Lima should respect the rights of property owners victimized by squatters building shanties on their properties, he said.

?If slum dwellers have their constitutional rights, we have ours too,? Fernando said over his weekly radio program.

?What if one day [De Lima] wakes up and sees a shanty being built adjacent to her house? What if floods reached up to chest deep due to slums within her vicinity? How would it feel?? Fernando said.

He said De Lima?s proposal would only encourage more squatters to encroach on more sidewalks and roadways and build their homes along waterways and other danger zones.

He also reminded De Lima of a law?Republic Act 7279, or the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992?governing squatters. She should help in enforcing it, he said.

?The law underwent comprehensive study and serious deliberations before its passage. I don?t think it was passed hastily. I am just enforcing that law,? he said.

Instead of passing blame on the squatter problem, Fernando said, De Lima should support the government?s anti-squatting drive and question the National Housing Authority and local governments for their failure to provide enough low-cost housing and relocation sites for slum dwellers.

He made his remarks after the Commission on Human Rights, in a resolution, asked the Supreme Court to include squatters in the list of appellants who may seek a writ of amparo.

The resolution, issued Nov. 4, also recommended that the MMDA stop the forced eviction of squatters in Metro Manila.

The Supreme Court created the writ of amparo in September 2007 to protect victims of summary killings and enforced disappearances. It compels state agents to look for missing people.