Villars’ ‘nemesis’ cries harassment
Lao said some people were pressuring and harassing him due to his complaints about the illegal structures along the creek and for blaming the Villars for the flooding in the area
Daily TribuneLao said some people were pressuring and harassing him due to his complaints about the illegal structures along the creek and for blaming the Villars for the flooding in the area
A resort owner being blamed for the flooding in at least four Parañaque City subdivisions yesterday cried harassment after allegedly being barred entry to Multinational Village over the weekend.
Engineer Selwyn Lao said that he and his employees were prevented from entering the village by security guards led by a former police colonel last 23 December for no apparent reason.
Lao said he had every right to enter Multinational Village where he lived and where he and his employees were going to hold their Christmas party.
"Prior to that, my employees were not also allowed to enter the village. They got on a tricycle just to get away from the security guards," said Lao, who added that he has been a resident of the village for 20 years.
Policemen also came to his resort, the Wing-An Garden Resort also located at Multinational, that afternoon purportedly looking for a male Chinese national allegedly involved in the hostage-taking of a female Filipino household worker, Lao said.
The cops who raided the resort came aboard four police vehicles and four motorcycles, he told DAILY TRIBUNE.
"According to the policemen, there was a report that a Chinese national was holding hostage his Filipino employee. That is weird," he said.
"There were a lot of policemen scattered around the compound. We could not monitor what they were doing, so we were afraid they would be planting drugs on us," he said. "They did not have a search warrant or whatever. They said it was an order from above. We realized that their purpose was different."
According to him, there were Chinese nationals renting a house at the resort.
Lao said it was clear that some people were pressuring and harassing him due to his complaints against the illegal structures along the creek and for blaming the Villars for the flooding in the area.
He was referring to former Senate president Manny Villar and Senator Cynthia Villar and their real estate company.
Lao said in earlier interviews that residents of the four subdivisions should not blame his resort for the flooding because, allegedly, the Villars had "reclaimed" the original creek and turned it into a road and subdivision lots.
DAILY TRIBUNE has been seeking a reaction from the Villars, their real estate company, as well as from local and national government officials, but most of them have refused to respond.
Further, Lao said the Baloc-Baloc Creek inside his property was a man-made waterway allegedly dug up by the Villars' real estate company in place of the original creek.
He said he brought up the matter of the Villars' "reclamation" before national and local government agencies, but his complaints have gone unanswered for years.
He said past officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources had told him that they could not act because senators — as members of the powerful Commission on Appointments — might thumb down their appointments.