THE Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay), or the National Alliance of Filipino Urban Poor, is presenting the case of the Filipino urban poor against forced relocations at a tribunal meeting in Taiwan.
Kadamay is one of many organizations that participated at the East Asia Tribunal on Forced Evictions, and the cases it presented may be taken up during the Habitat III conference in October.
The group highlighted Sitio San Roque, one of the largest urban-poor areas with 7,000 families, whose long battle against demolitions has been an inspiration to the urban poor in the National Capital Region, which conservatively represents more than 25 percent of the population.
San Roque has barricaded four times in the last six years to prevent the government from turning the area into a hub for foreign investment, hotels, casinos and upscale residential units.
The Quezon City Central Business District project—crafted by Ayala Land Inc., the Quezon City government and the National Housing Authority—has been tagged as the culprit for a series of attempted arson to burn all the shanties and compel the residents to leave.
Demolition teams comprised of thousands of crew members, many of whom are urban-poor themselves, also tried to dismantle the community with the assistance of armed policemen.
The Philippines has witnessed a series of violent evictions in the provinces of Cebu and Batangas, and in other several communities in Quezon City and Caloocan just before the inauguration of Rodrigo R. Duterte as the new President.
“With zero regard for the well-being of the people, both national and local government units and their corporate allies have not stopped widespread demolitions despite the existence of a law that prohibits such demolitions, when there is no relocation plan in place. Thousands of Filipino families have been added to the maddeningly growing number of homeless people due to these demolitions,” Kadamay National Chairman Gloria Arellano said.
In the Philippines only about 2.5 percent of informal settlers are exempt from dislocation but with the implementation of laws like the Urban Development and Housing Act, they may yet be deemed to be living in “high risk” areas or regarded as a “hazard” to some development plants that would trigger their eviction.
Marvyn N. Benaning