Former Local Urban Poor Affairs and Housing Office (LUPAHO) Chief and now City Administrator, Atty. Willie Rivera, on March 25 denied the claims of mayoralty candidate, Amos Rivera, that the Angeles City Government is spreading ‘disinformation’ regarding the distribution of lot certificates to 429 residents of TB Pavilion in Barangay Sapalibutad.
Atty. Rivera, who was the principal author of the Angeles City LUPAHO ordinance during his time as City Councilor, and as LUPAHO Chief when it was first established under then City Mayor Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin, clarified that the residents were relocated from TB Pavilion in Barangay Ninoy Aquino back in 2005.
“I was the head of the LUPAHO then,” Atty. Rivera said, “and it was Mayor Tarzan Lazatin who secured an agreement with Angeles University Foundation, through then President, Dr. Emmanuel Angeles, who donated the 4-hectare land in Sapalibutad where the residents were eventually relocated.”
Atty. Rivera added that Amos Rivera, his younger brother, was merely part of his LUPAHO staff at the time.
Atty. Rivera said that the lot certificates of the TB Pavilion residents were only released in 2022, 16 years after their relocation, due to the ‘inefficiency’ of the LUPAHO when Mayor Tarzan stepped down from office in 2007.
Amos Rivera was the Administrative Officer of LUPAHO at that time, yet no action was taken by the office.
Later on, Amos Rivera was elected as Councilor and became Chairman of the Commitee on Urban Poor Affairs. Again, no action was taken to have the lands titled and no Resolution was passed to that effect.
“Amos should explain to the public why there was inaction and delay in the release of titles,” Atty. Rivera said, “Amos, in furthering his ambition, cannot claim what is not his. Amos is disrespecting the memory of Mayor Tarzan who exerted efforts to provide a better living for the informal settlers.”
In a post on social media, Amos Rivera had claimed that the lot titles were processed and the residents were relocated to the TB Pavilion during his time as LUPAHO head. He went on to criticize the City Government for allegedly ‘dissuading Angeleños from the truth’.
On July 21, 2020, Amos Rivera also carried out a ceremonial turnover of land titles to the residents despite not having authority to do so as he was no longer in charge of LUPAHO.
The City Government called the attention of the Registry of Deeds on why the titles were released to Amos Rivera and not LUPAHO.
Amos Rivera is an incumbent Councilor and no longer connected to LUPAHO as of 2020.
“Amos Rivera committed ‘abuse of authority’ for securing the titles from the Registry of Deeds without the knowledge of the City Government and, afterward, conducted a ceremonial turnover for his personal gain,” the City Government said in a statement. (Angeles City Information Office)
