Humanitarian Considerations

(excerpt from my journal entry dated February 1, 2012, a Wednesday)

Last night, we had to go to the Barangay Hall to settle a dispute with one of our tenants. Manang and family owe us nine months(!) in unpaid rent.

Last November, they promised us that they’d move out by January 15. It was okay with us if they won’t be able to settle the rent, as long as they’d take care of the bills and move out as they promised.

But when January 15 came, they asked us again for another extension (until January 31) since they hadn’t yet found a place to move to. We gave in, holding them to their word.

But then, January 31 came and there was still no sign of them going. My sister (who is supposed to move into the unit they’d vacate) was fuming and was badgering them already last night. Finally, she called me, and as I also didn’t want to give in to their pakiusap anymore, I told them as calmly and firmly as I could that we cannot help them anymore.

Their family has had problems recently, their father was hospitalized. But the circumstances surrounding this are just so...absurd. Their father has been hospitalized many times already on account of his drinking, and he has cost his family so much already. But now that he’s out of the hospital, he’s into drinking again, and his children complain to us that hard as they try, they couldn’t persuade their father otherwise.

I was thinking, what did they expect us to do about it? I can’t see them as a “charity case” (like this other tenant who is already four months delayed with her rent but we can see is really trying her best to update her payments). We would have gladly been more lenient toward them if they’re really trying their best, but as we can see, they don’t seem to try. When their father was hospitalized, we even lowered their rent, from P4,500 down to P3,000, yet they don’t seem to have no intention of paying their rent at all.

They argued that if we threw them out, they’d really have nowhere else to go but the streets. What have they been doing all this time that we gave them to look? They said they couldn’t afford most of them. But they said that they found this place that will be vacated this Sunday, so they’re asking us for another extension up till then.

Thinking that we have no other recourse but to give in (for humanitarian considerations), we said we’d give in (yet again). But this time, we would have to formalize it with Barangay officials so that we’d have official witness—yep, that’s why they’re called barangay “officials.”

It was funny because when they heard the word “Barangay,” they got so afraid, they shuddered. No kidding! It was like mentioning a holy word to the devil or something. Not that they’re evil, of course. Ahehe. Para kasing primal fear e. Parang pusang takot mabuhusan ng tubig. Ewan.

So that’s what we did last night. When we got to the Barangay hall, there were no more arguments whatsoever. We just told the presiding officer what we agreed on, and that we’d like the Barangay to formalize it. And that’s it.

I think it was a much better way of settling it. Kasi, if we insisted that they move out last night, the Barangay would have to side with them (for humanitarian considerations, yet again), and make us give them at least a month to find a place to move to. Kung sakali, isang buwan na naman silang libre.

Well, that’s that. February’s here. When my sister moves to the unit, I will be converting her room into an office. It’s the more quiet part of the house and I’m excited. But then I’d have to wait a few more days. For humanitarian considerations. Yet again.