MEDIA ADVISORY : Protest Rally at the South Korean Embassy in Makati

Attention: News Editor, News Desk, Reporters and Photojournalists

MEDIA ADVISORY

Protest Rally at the South Korean Embassy in Makati

Leaders of communities affected by the Northrail Southrail Linkage Project being funded by the South Korean government will stage a protest rally to be held in the morning of January 25 (Friday).

Housing rights advocates will convene at the grounds of the Pacific Star Building along Makati Avenue where the South Korean Embassy is located.

The people are protesting the refusal of the Embassy to talk with them unless they coordinate with the office of the Vice President Noli de Castro in the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC). The people say they always talk with HUDCC but now want to talk to the Korean government that is funding the railroad project.

We hope that members of the media will cover the event. We wish to assure you that the activity will be peaceful.

Photo ops: Some protesters will be wearing paper house boxes on their heads to show that a roof over people’s head is a human right.

Date: January 25, 2008 (Friday)

Time: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM

Venue: In front of the South Korean Embassy (Pacific Star Building),
Makati Avenue, Makati City

Reporter's Notebook: Northrail

Riles at Relokasyon
Jiggy Manicad

The North Luzon Railway Project is envisioned to bring about a modern rail system that runs from Caloocan in Metro Manila to Clark, Pampanga. The project’s first phase will run from Caloocan to Malolos, Bulacan and is expected to cost P500 million or about P25 billion. This phase is expected to be completed this year but despite funds for the project having already been spent, not even half has been completed. The project has been assailed from the start, with some quarters questioning why it didn’t undergo a bidding. Although the railway project appears to have stalled, the demolition of the shanties of informal settlers who live along the railway lines goes on. The government has spent a billion pesos to transfer these families but complaints have sprung up over the lack of water, power and jobs in the relocation areas. The houses in the relocation areas are said to be of substandard quality. Will questions that hound this project be answered?

Bishop Pabillo, Mayor Cuerpo back railway families’ plea for alternative relocation site

** NEWS RELEASE *** NEWS RELEASE *** NEWS RELEASE **

Bishop Pabillo, Mayor Cuerpo back railway families’ plea for alternative relocation site

10 September 2007. Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo and Rodriguez Mayor Pedro Cuerpo joined grassroots organizations this morning in a press conference held at the Arzobispado de Manila to demand that the government find alternatives to its policy of relocating poor people to remote sites.

Railway families who are facing imminent threat of evictions due to the Northrail-Southrail Linkage Project press the government to arrange that necessary relocation be to nearby sites like Rodriguez, and no longer to places two or more hours drive outside Metro Manila which is far from their jobs.

Mayor Cuerpo is offering hope to railway families as he has certified that the Municipality of Rodriguez in Rizal is willing to accept families living along the railroad tracks from Sampaloc up to Sta. Cruz, Manila.

Destined to be dumped in distant relocation sites where life is extremely hard, Samahang Apektadong Pamilya sa Riles (SAPAR) have taken initiatives to find alternative relocation sites for some 1,500 families. Despite many appeals the National Housing Authority (NHA) refuses to accept the Montalban relocation site.

The group also expressed admiration for Bishop Pabillo's consistent support for the poor. The chairman of the Philippine bishops' Housing Committee has assailed the soulless eviction of poor families.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has called the attention of the government in its pastoral statements on the homeless (1997) and on the nation’s housing problems (2007) to stop uncaring demolitions as it only put poor families from danger zone to death zone.

The government’s efforts to decongest Metro Manila by relocating poor people to distant places is simply pathetic, according to Urban Poor Associates (UPA), a non-government organization that concentrates on evictions and slum-upgrading.

Results of a survey done by UPA indicated that poor people in distant relocation sites would likely go back to Metro Manila due to the following issues: lack of electricity and potable water, livelihood and job problems, high cost of commodities and transportation, payments of units alloted, problem on security, and poor facilities.

Lawyer Bienvenido Salinas II, coordinator of UPA's legal unit St. Thomas More Law Center said the law requires that families evicted from government land be given decent relocation. “The Constitution clearly stated in its Article XIII (Section 10) that no resettlement of urban poor dwellers should be undertaken without adequate consultation with them and the communities where they are to be relocated.” ###

MEDIA ADVISORY : Bishop Pabillo, Mayor Cuerpo come to the aid of railway families

Hundreds of railway families in Manila who are facing imminent threat of evictions and demolitions due to the Northrail-Southrail Linkage Project have found advocates in Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo and Rodriguez Mayor Pedro Cuerpo who have offered to help in a press conference to be held at the Arzobispado de Manila on September 10, Monday (10:00 AM).

Poor families living along the railroad tracks in Sampaloc will ask the government to take another look at in-city or near-city relocation sites, for example in Rodriguez (Montalban), Rizal.

Destined to be dumped in distant relocation sites where life is extremely hard, grassroots organizations have taken initiatives to find alternative relocation sites.

The Constitution clearly stated in its Article XIII (Section 10) that no resettlement of urban poor dwellers should be undertaken without adequate consultation with them and the communities where they are to be relocated.

Photo ops: A woman in Filipiniana dress will receive a mock-up 100 Million Dollar Cheque as Official Demolition Assistance (ODA) fund from a woman with South Korean costume; Poor people will act out as miserable patients to depict the tragedy brought about by forced evictions and distant relocation.

Date: September 10, 2007 (Monday)

Time: 10:00 AM

Venue: Arzobispado de Manila
121 Arzobispo Street, Intramuros, Manila

For further information, please contact the Urban Poor Associates (UPA) at (632) 4264118 / 4264119 / 4267615.

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