News Release
February 25, 2010
Fr. Robert Reyes, also known as the running priest, together with the urban poor walked and pushed Kariton ni Maria on a non-stop 28 hour pilgrimage or called as “Lakbay Dalangin” to seek and spread the light. A journey started at 8:00 am in Road 10, Navotas, gathering thousands of urban poor affected by the road widening project of Department of Works and Highways (DPWH). He finished the 28 hour pilgrimage on the following day, 25 February 2010, at 12 noon in the historical Edsa Shrine People Power Monument.
The Catholic priest and the thousands walking with him offered this sacrifice to remember, repeat, reflect, renew and realize the lessons, values, and Spirit of EDSA.
“The 28 hour pilgrimage or the Lakbay dalangin is my humble contribution to the commemoration of EDSA and to thank God that Kariton ni Maria has been part of our history for about ten years bringing light and blessings for us forever. It is toward this light that Kariton ni Maria will always journey,” said Fr. Reyes.
The pilgrimage’s route retraced Fr. Reyes’ 28 years in priesthood serving God and the people. The pilgrimage passed by his respective parishes where he was ordained and where he worked as a parish priest. He also paid homage to the retired priests at the Cardinal Sin Retirement Home For Priests who influenced him to walk the talk of the church. The pilgrimage passed through government offices which he continually engaged striving to make them serve and not betray God and the People to whom they owe allegiance. It traveled to all the urban poor communities where he had worked and somehow, as though miraculously, helped to stop demolitions and evictions. Then to the Golden Mosque of Quiapo, where Muslim friends waited and joined him to pray for better Christian and Muslim ties.
The running priest held mass in front of the Commission on Election (Comelec) to bring genuine and profound change in the electoral exercise and the poll automation.
“It is also my prayer engaging body, mind and spirit that in the coming May 10, 2010 elections we will act according to what we have learned so that the light will finally shine and free us from all that enslaves and brings us all down. This is a call to various institutions which have the resources to be vigilant and ready to take the appropriate action and for every sector and individual to guard the ballots and to preserve the sanctity of the electoral process,” said the Palawan Diocese-based Catholic priest
“I am calling the attention of the Comelec, to impose a demolition moratorium as hundred thousands of urban poor might be disenfranchised of their right to vote. The urban poor just like the rest of us has the right to vote to elect leaders. Demolition and evictions are gravely abused by those in position to get the votes of the informal settlers. We hope that Comelec through this mass will heed our call,” Fr. Reyed added.
Reyes was joined by Task Force Anti-Eviction group composed of various people’s organizations and NGOs such as Urban Poor Associates (UPA), Community Organizers Multiversity (COM) and Community Organization of the Philippine Enterprise (COPE) Foundation, a housing rights organization supporting the cause of the urban poor and Kubol Pagasa.
Fr. Reyes concluded that, “This pilgrimage brings the value and relevance of EDSA that has lost 24 years later a peaceful struggle to reclaim our freedom and to exercise democracy in all its goodness. May our leaders re-learn the lessons and start a truly meaningful journey with the poor, before, during and most especially after elections.” -30-
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Muslim Residents at Baclaran Mosque Write to the President
News Release
February 24, 2010
Three hundred Muslim residents living around the grand mosque wrote to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo asking her to donate the 2.8 hectares lot occupied by the mosque on the reclaimed land in Manila Bay, Pasay City.
Abdelmanan Tanandato, leader of Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Nademolis sa Roxas Boulevard, recalls that this is not the first time they appealed to the president.
“In march 18,1999, at the time of the first attempt of demolishing our place of worship, I ran to her when she was still the vice-president in the old PICC building along Roxas Boulevard. I knelt down before her and she stopped the demolition. The violent eviction last year in our place has not yet been settled. And yet, we hear stories going around of another demolition operation against our community and our mosque. We think that it is only the president who can end the problem over this disputed land, by donating the lot where our community and the mosque are located,” said Tanandato.
Three months ago, on 18 November 2009, the entire nation saw the most violent demolition undertaken by the government against Muslim residents living around the mosque. Many Muslim residents were injured while some sustained gun shot wounds when the Pasay Policemen opened fire at members of the community who were resisting the demolition. This incident was on the front pages of all major Philippine broadsheets and tabloids and the newscasts of television networks especially among the international community.
In the letter, the Muslim residents said, “We are ordinary simple folks and do not wish to have this kind of attention. And we sincerely wish that our country does not receive such kind of media attention. All this will only breed bitterness and anger, which we do not want to harbor in our hearts, especially among our young.”
Imam Mus-ab Baniaga, the secretary of the people’s organization, clarified that, “they have resisted demolition and eviction from the very beginning because they believe that evicting the community will also mean demolishing the mosque which the Koran strictly prohibits. That is why, they are appealing to the president to exhaust legal venues to arrive at an amicable settlement because they will defend the mosque against destruction in whatever way they can.”
In the letter, they also asked the president to order a halt to demolitions and withdraw the memorandum of Secretary Eduardo Ermita instructing government agencies to relocate the mosque to Lot 51-55 in Parañaque City.
The group cited that, “the Lot 51-55 where the government intends to have the mosque relocated is claimed by one Bernardo de Leon and the same land is occupied by more or less 200 families. It means the land cannot be used as a relocation site.”
Last year before the bloody demolition happened, Task Force Anti-Eviction composed of various people’s organizations and NGOs such as Urban Poor Associates (UPA), Community Organizers Multiversity (COM), and Community Organization of the Philippine Enterprise (COPE) Foundation advised the government to let the mosque stay side by side with the Baclaran Church as a symbol of national harmony between Christians and the Muslims.
Tanandato reiterated, “If the president will heed our call, this act of donation will be her most beautiful and powerful legacy in her years as the president of the Philippine Republic. And we, the Muslim residents around the mosque will be forever grateful to her.” -30-
February 24, 2010
Three hundred Muslim residents living around the grand mosque wrote to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo asking her to donate the 2.8 hectares lot occupied by the mosque on the reclaimed land in Manila Bay, Pasay City.
Abdelmanan Tanandato, leader of Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Nademolis sa Roxas Boulevard, recalls that this is not the first time they appealed to the president.
“In march 18,1999, at the time of the first attempt of demolishing our place of worship, I ran to her when she was still the vice-president in the old PICC building along Roxas Boulevard. I knelt down before her and she stopped the demolition. The violent eviction last year in our place has not yet been settled. And yet, we hear stories going around of another demolition operation against our community and our mosque. We think that it is only the president who can end the problem over this disputed land, by donating the lot where our community and the mosque are located,” said Tanandato.
Three months ago, on 18 November 2009, the entire nation saw the most violent demolition undertaken by the government against Muslim residents living around the mosque. Many Muslim residents were injured while some sustained gun shot wounds when the Pasay Policemen opened fire at members of the community who were resisting the demolition. This incident was on the front pages of all major Philippine broadsheets and tabloids and the newscasts of television networks especially among the international community.
In the letter, the Muslim residents said, “We are ordinary simple folks and do not wish to have this kind of attention. And we sincerely wish that our country does not receive such kind of media attention. All this will only breed bitterness and anger, which we do not want to harbor in our hearts, especially among our young.”
Imam Mus-ab Baniaga, the secretary of the people’s organization, clarified that, “they have resisted demolition and eviction from the very beginning because they believe that evicting the community will also mean demolishing the mosque which the Koran strictly prohibits. That is why, they are appealing to the president to exhaust legal venues to arrive at an amicable settlement because they will defend the mosque against destruction in whatever way they can.”
In the letter, they also asked the president to order a halt to demolitions and withdraw the memorandum of Secretary Eduardo Ermita instructing government agencies to relocate the mosque to Lot 51-55 in Parañaque City.
The group cited that, “the Lot 51-55 where the government intends to have the mosque relocated is claimed by one Bernardo de Leon and the same land is occupied by more or less 200 families. It means the land cannot be used as a relocation site.”
Last year before the bloody demolition happened, Task Force Anti-Eviction composed of various people’s organizations and NGOs such as Urban Poor Associates (UPA), Community Organizers Multiversity (COM), and Community Organization of the Philippine Enterprise (COPE) Foundation advised the government to let the mosque stay side by side with the Baclaran Church as a symbol of national harmony between Christians and the Muslims.
Tanandato reiterated, “If the president will heed our call, this act of donation will be her most beautiful and powerful legacy in her years as the president of the Philippine Republic. And we, the Muslim residents around the mosque will be forever grateful to her.” -30-
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Urban Poor Right to Suffrage Might be Violated
News Release
February 23, 2010
Hundred thousands of urban poor are threatened with eviction and many of them are placed in distant relocation sites as in Calauan, Laguna and Bulacan areas. This massive demolition and eviction implemented by the government arouses fear among the affected urban poor communities that it could lead to violation of their right to vote in this May election.
Prescilda Juanich, President of Samahang Pinagbuklod ng Pagkakaisa (SAPIPA) said, “Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) attempted to demolish our houses last January 20, 2010, but they didn’t succeed as we women in the community formed a human barricade to protect our houses. The demolition crew fired water cannons and the Navotas police hit us. This not only caused us physical injuries but caused anxiety to the entire community. Until now, there is a threat of another violent eviction and it disables us to focus on the coming election.”
SAPIPA is a people’s organization along Road 10 Navotas comprised of 2000 families. They are affected by the road widening project of DPWH.
On the other hand, on December 4, 2010, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo revoked two presidential proclamations that would benefit 100,000 informal settlers along Manggahan Floodway, and in Taytay, Rizal through the issuance of Executive Order No. 854.
This means that 100,000 informal settlers along Manggahan Floodway and in Taytay, Rizal are subject to demolition and eviction at any time before the election. A number of them have been evicted and now relocated in Calauan, Laguna.
“Those of us living along Manggahan Floodway strongly object to the order of the president that will evict us. Now, we are forced to go to Calauan, Laguna on the last week of February or early March,” said Vicky Morante, President of Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Kababaihan sa Floodway Inc.
“If my family has to go to Calauan where there is no livelihood and 100 kilometers away from the City, how can we vote in this coming May election? The transportation will cost us a lot because I got three children who are also registered voters in Pasig. Will we not be accused of selling our votes if we accept pamasahe (transportation money) from candidates? Or can we still vote in Pasig even if we are already residing in Calauan? We are afraid we will not be able to exercise our right to vote. These are our concerns especially that a big number of urban poor families are affected of the issuance of Executive Order No. 854,” she added.
The Task Force Anti-Eviction group composed of various people’s organizations and NGOs such as Urban Poor Associates (UPA), Community Organizers Multiversity (COM) and Community Organization of the Philippine Enterprise (COPE) Foundation has been calling for a one year-moratorium on demolitions as big numbers of urban poor may be deprived of their right of suffrage.
UPA, a housing rights non-government organization, noted that in 2007 election 6000 former railway dwellers in Makati affected by the North Rail and South Rail Linkage project transferred to Southville Resettlement in Cabuyao. They had to rally in front of the Laguna Commission on Election (COMELEC) Regional Office and faced a legal battle when Edgardo Collado and Oscar Ibay, both running for Mayor in Makati, filed a petition for exclusion against those relocated to Southville Cabuyao, claiming the relocated voters had ceased to be bonafide residents of Makati City.
The rallyists argued that they did not move out of Makati out of their own volition but were forced to be relocated by the government to give way to the railway project. In the process of relocation, only a few were able to register in Cabuyao. Most of them were not allowed to register because of the six-month residency requirement.
Had they not fought and pushed for it, they would have lost their basic right to vote to elect leaders.
“This is a major issue that should be addressed in this time. As we are all busy pushing for credible election let us not allow the urban poor be disenfranchised. Their right to vote should never be compromised,” said UPA Deputy Coordinator Teodoro Anana.
The Task Force Anti-Eviction together with NGOs and people’s organization will push for a demolition moratorium whatever it will take in order to avoid the voting problems mentioned in this article. -30-
February 23, 2010
Hundred thousands of urban poor are threatened with eviction and many of them are placed in distant relocation sites as in Calauan, Laguna and Bulacan areas. This massive demolition and eviction implemented by the government arouses fear among the affected urban poor communities that it could lead to violation of their right to vote in this May election.
Prescilda Juanich, President of Samahang Pinagbuklod ng Pagkakaisa (SAPIPA) said, “Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) attempted to demolish our houses last January 20, 2010, but they didn’t succeed as we women in the community formed a human barricade to protect our houses. The demolition crew fired water cannons and the Navotas police hit us. This not only caused us physical injuries but caused anxiety to the entire community. Until now, there is a threat of another violent eviction and it disables us to focus on the coming election.”
SAPIPA is a people’s organization along Road 10 Navotas comprised of 2000 families. They are affected by the road widening project of DPWH.
On the other hand, on December 4, 2010, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo revoked two presidential proclamations that would benefit 100,000 informal settlers along Manggahan Floodway, and in Taytay, Rizal through the issuance of Executive Order No. 854.
This means that 100,000 informal settlers along Manggahan Floodway and in Taytay, Rizal are subject to demolition and eviction at any time before the election. A number of them have been evicted and now relocated in Calauan, Laguna.
“Those of us living along Manggahan Floodway strongly object to the order of the president that will evict us. Now, we are forced to go to Calauan, Laguna on the last week of February or early March,” said Vicky Morante, President of Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Kababaihan sa Floodway Inc.
“If my family has to go to Calauan where there is no livelihood and 100 kilometers away from the City, how can we vote in this coming May election? The transportation will cost us a lot because I got three children who are also registered voters in Pasig. Will we not be accused of selling our votes if we accept pamasahe (transportation money) from candidates? Or can we still vote in Pasig even if we are already residing in Calauan? We are afraid we will not be able to exercise our right to vote. These are our concerns especially that a big number of urban poor families are affected of the issuance of Executive Order No. 854,” she added.
The Task Force Anti-Eviction group composed of various people’s organizations and NGOs such as Urban Poor Associates (UPA), Community Organizers Multiversity (COM) and Community Organization of the Philippine Enterprise (COPE) Foundation has been calling for a one year-moratorium on demolitions as big numbers of urban poor may be deprived of their right of suffrage.
UPA, a housing rights non-government organization, noted that in 2007 election 6000 former railway dwellers in Makati affected by the North Rail and South Rail Linkage project transferred to Southville Resettlement in Cabuyao. They had to rally in front of the Laguna Commission on Election (COMELEC) Regional Office and faced a legal battle when Edgardo Collado and Oscar Ibay, both running for Mayor in Makati, filed a petition for exclusion against those relocated to Southville Cabuyao, claiming the relocated voters had ceased to be bonafide residents of Makati City.
The rallyists argued that they did not move out of Makati out of their own volition but were forced to be relocated by the government to give way to the railway project. In the process of relocation, only a few were able to register in Cabuyao. Most of them were not allowed to register because of the six-month residency requirement.
Had they not fought and pushed for it, they would have lost their basic right to vote to elect leaders.
“This is a major issue that should be addressed in this time. As we are all busy pushing for credible election let us not allow the urban poor be disenfranchised. Their right to vote should never be compromised,” said UPA Deputy Coordinator Teodoro Anana.
The Task Force Anti-Eviction together with NGOs and people’s organization will push for a demolition moratorium whatever it will take in order to avoid the voting problems mentioned in this article. -30-
Friday, February 19, 2010
Best and worst of government
Commentary : Best and worst of government
By Denis Murphy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: February 18, 2010
EVERY DAY IN METRO MANILA WE HAVE numerous examples of the best and worst practices of government. In Navotas, young policemen beat up poor women old enough to be their grandmothers. The women wouldn’t disperse from a barricade they had formed to protect their homes against actions of the Department of Public Works and Highways which they believed were illegal. Lawyers and other government offices agree with the women.
Meanwhile in Baseco, Manila Mayor Fred Lim and Barangay Chair Cristo Hispano have agreed to resettle 300 fire victim families in the most humane and efficient way possible.
Cora Geducos, 61, was one of the women beaten by police in Navotas along the R-10 road that runs along Manila Bay. “He held his shield against my face,” she said of the young policeman who clubbed her, “then he bent down and hit my legs and feet with his club.” She showed me her bandaged toe and the lesions on her arms. “I didn’t think they would do that to us. We were just protecting our homes and our rights as human beings. I feel very sad about what happened. It hurts to think they would do that to old women like myself.”
Sixteen other women showed their wounds, including Angelita Villaruel, Virginia Cantellas, Daisy Jalbuena and Emma Villaruel. Few wanted to give their ages.
Fr. Robert Reyes had led a prayer service in the street at which the men and women of the barricade laughed and cried, hugged one another, listened to the Scripture, prayed and sang “Ama Namin,” which has become the anthem of the oppressed ever since it was sung in the giant rallies that supported Cory Aquino before and after the snap election of 1986.
The women were also water cannoned from a distance of a few feet. The use of water cannons is illegal in such evictions. Water cannons on women!
Usually after big fires the government takes steps to keep the poor from returning to the land they occupied, because it believes it has better use for the land. The fire victims must look for land elsewhere. Mayor Lim, the barangay captain, the local people’s organization, Kabalikat and architects from the Mapua School of Architecture have agreed on something more useful.
They, too, will not allow people to return to the land they occupied, but only until the land has been surveyed and subdivided into lots, and then they can return. The new settlement will have straight roads for ambulance and fire engine access. Access is the biggest problem in most slum fires. The recent fire spread because fire trucks couldn’t get near it.
Second, the mayor and others will ask the Mapua School of Architecture to survey and plan the settlement in consultation with the people.
Third, the restructured area will be the model for the other 6,000 families living in barong-barongs in Baseco. Because the soil is very “risky” and liable to liquefaction in case of an earthquake, houses will be limited to one story. The people involved will work with neighborhood groups, including Muslim organizations and Fr. Cris Sabili and the St. Hannibal Empowerment Center (SHEC).
The fire area has been bulldozed, and now looks like an ancient battle field excavated after the ages. Individual men and women wander about on it, lost in their thoughts. The setting sun sends long shadows of playing children across the scorched ground. The people are content as they line up for relief goods; they don’t have to worry about relocation. That is, all the people except the parents of a little girl who died in the fire.
In Navotas the people live on land designated for the widening of R-10. They agree to move and they qualify in every way for the relocation ordered in the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992. If they receive their relocation allowance, they will move.
The DPWH says it asked the National Housing Authority and other agencies to provide resettlement. When they couldn’t do so, the
DPWH claimed it had done all that was required and went ahead in another questionable way to plan the eviction. Instead of a home, it offered P21,000 to families to move, an alternative not mentioned in the law.
There is a greater willingness now even among the most influential government agencies to ignore the housing and resettlement laws. The government can deal kindly or cruelly with the poor, but there are serious consequences in this life and the next.
Denis Murphy works with the Urban Poor Associates. His email address is upa@pldtdsl.net.
©Copyright 2001-2010 INQUIRER.net, An Inquirer Company
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20100218-253978/Best-and-worst-of-government
Saturday, January 23, 2010
We Salute You, Ka Rodrigo Frio!
23 January 2010. Mr. Rodrigo “Ka Rudy” Frio, President of Nagdamayang Lakeview Neighborhood Association Inc., died evening of Friday (15 January) after being shot by one of the guards of Twinstar Security and Investigation Agency hired by a private claimant of the lot presently occupied by the Association consisting of 70 families for more than 15 years.
Ka Rudy was shot through his body, while mindlessly feeding his chickens. This was witnessed by one Rene Clorado, Ka Rudy’s companion, who was then standing in front of him during the daring attack.
According to Rene, four (4) security guards of Twinstar Security and Investigation Agency led by OIC Bernardo Tamon, at a distance, suddenly shot Ka Rudy and immediately ran away after the shooting. He relates his friend’s death to the issue of ownership of the 1.4 hectares lot they presently occupied, "Two days before the killing the Officer in Charge (OIC) Bernardo Tamon of the Security Guards had a confrontation with Ka Rudy about the lot we occupied. Tamon threatened to shoot Ka Rudy and pointed his shotgun at him.”
The police officers arrested the Security guard OIC Bernardo Tamon, 49 and Artemio Demit, 52. However, SG Antonio Eygot and SG Edwin Cuambot were able to escape and are the subject of manhunt operation. Taytay Police is further investigating the incident.
“The attack was premeditated and our leader was helplessly killed. I remember on September 4, 2009, we had a meeting with the mayor and the claimants of land. The claimants asked the mayor if they could put guards in the lot and the mayor said yes. The one of the claimant added that if Frio will enter the lot can we ordered him shot. We see that the land issue is the strongest possible motive of his killing,” said Bella Dela Rosa, Chairman of the board of the same organization with Frio .
Previous to the shooting, OIC Tamon was already invited to the Taytay Police Station because of the complaint lodged by Ka Rudy for his continued threats. “If the police in Taytay Rizal had already detained OIC Tamon on that incident, our leader would still be alive today,” Dela Rosa added.
We will always remember Ka Rudy as one of the urban poor leader who really fought for the rights of the poor.
Butchoy Raynon, nephew of Ka Rudy said, “He is a great loss in our community because he is a father to everyone who stands for our right. He is a principled man and a man of word. A very kind and loving uncle and husband to his family.”
Task Force Anti-Eviction composed of various people’s organizations and NGOs such as Urban Poor Associates (UPA), Community Organizers Multiversity (COM), and Community Organization of the Philippine Enterprise (COPE) Foundation condemn the killing and urged the government to act with expediency to resolve this crime.
“This is not the first time that an urban poor leader was killed in protecting their shelter rights,” the group added.
Ka Rudy’s remains were brought today to Taytay Police Station as a show of protest for its continued failure to capture the other assailants and to ask for justice before it was laid to rest in Holy Cemetery Garden Manila East Memorial in his hometown Taytay, Rizal. He left behind his wife, Edna (56) and children Maria Rona (30), Rudeen (29), and Rodrigo Jr. (22).
Ka Rudy was shot through his body, while mindlessly feeding his chickens. This was witnessed by one Rene Clorado, Ka Rudy’s companion, who was then standing in front of him during the daring attack.
According to Rene, four (4) security guards of Twinstar Security and Investigation Agency led by OIC Bernardo Tamon, at a distance, suddenly shot Ka Rudy and immediately ran away after the shooting. He relates his friend’s death to the issue of ownership of the 1.4 hectares lot they presently occupied, "Two days before the killing the Officer in Charge (OIC) Bernardo Tamon of the Security Guards had a confrontation with Ka Rudy about the lot we occupied. Tamon threatened to shoot Ka Rudy and pointed his shotgun at him.”
The police officers arrested the Security guard OIC Bernardo Tamon, 49 and Artemio Demit, 52. However, SG Antonio Eygot and SG Edwin Cuambot were able to escape and are the subject of manhunt operation. Taytay Police is further investigating the incident.
“The attack was premeditated and our leader was helplessly killed. I remember on September 4, 2009, we had a meeting with the mayor and the claimants of land. The claimants asked the mayor if they could put guards in the lot and the mayor said yes. The one of the claimant added that if Frio will enter the lot can we ordered him shot. We see that the land issue is the strongest possible motive of his killing,” said Bella Dela Rosa, Chairman of the board of the same organization with Frio .
Previous to the shooting, OIC Tamon was already invited to the Taytay Police Station because of the complaint lodged by Ka Rudy for his continued threats. “If the police in Taytay Rizal had already detained OIC Tamon on that incident, our leader would still be alive today,” Dela Rosa added.
We will always remember Ka Rudy as one of the urban poor leader who really fought for the rights of the poor.
Butchoy Raynon, nephew of Ka Rudy said, “He is a great loss in our community because he is a father to everyone who stands for our right. He is a principled man and a man of word. A very kind and loving uncle and husband to his family.”
Task Force Anti-Eviction composed of various people’s organizations and NGOs such as Urban Poor Associates (UPA), Community Organizers Multiversity (COM), and Community Organization of the Philippine Enterprise (COPE) Foundation condemn the killing and urged the government to act with expediency to resolve this crime.
“This is not the first time that an urban poor leader was killed in protecting their shelter rights,” the group added.
Ka Rudy’s remains were brought today to Taytay Police Station as a show of protest for its continued failure to capture the other assailants and to ask for justice before it was laid to rest in Holy Cemetery Garden Manila East Memorial in his hometown Taytay, Rizal. He left behind his wife, Edna (56) and children Maria Rona (30), Rudeen (29), and Rodrigo Jr. (22).
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Santa in Balintawak
Inquirer Opinion / Columns
Commentary : Santa in Balintawak
By Denis Murphy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: December 29, 2009
IF you would like to know how it feels to be a presidential candidate, a movie star or even a pope, just dress up as Santa Claus and go to a poor area of Metro Manila. You will need bodyguards to protect you, not from pickpockets and addicts, but from the crowds of children who will drown you in their affection and excitement if you are not careful.
I was Santa Claus this year to hundreds of young children of the scavengers and market workers who live against the wall of the GenTex Compound in Balintawak. When we were near the place, I put on my red Santa jacket, white wig and whiskers and began to wave to people along the way. Everyone, even the tough guys stripped to the waist who looked as if they were ready at any time for a knife-fight and the tired-looking women, smiled back and waved. If I waved back and forth quickly, the people waved quickly, and I felt like Noynoy Aquino or Manny Pacquiao. When I waved slowly the crowds waved slowly and I felt like Pope Benedict XVI. I knew how he must feel speeding through crowds in his pope mobile. Everyone recognized Santa; everyone was glad to see him. It was an exhilarating feeling.
The sponsors had given me bags of candy to distribute to the children. Be careful doing that! Hundreds of children coming at you to get their candy is scary. Don’t try it unless the children are lined up safely in some sort of traffic control contraption designed by Bayani Fernando and watched over by their mothers. I told the children all about Santa, who he was and where he came from and what Santa wanted for them and their city when they grew up. There should be enough food for everyone, good schools, and good jobs for all, I told them. I sensed the children wishing in their own way that I’d hurry up, so that the gift-giving and the meal could begin.
The children were strikingly beautiful and I thought I recognized some of them.
In 1998 a demolition team from Quezon City Hall came to evict the people living in this same place. The people asked them not to insist on the eviction because five of their children were sick of dengue and might die if they were forced to sleep in the open. One child had already died of the disease, the people said, and showed the team the body of the child which was still in one of the houses. The demolition team examined the dead child and still tore down the huts. In the morning the five children were dead. The parents went to the mayor who told the miserably poor people he would pay 20 percent of the burial expenses and no more.
We had young community organizers working with us in that place, who brought the coffins holding the children to City Hall. We arrived in a truck. The guards said we couldn’t unload the coffins, but they were afraid to come close to the dead bodies to stop us. We lay the dead by the main flag pole, and stayed there all day while a drum beat a sad rhythm. At first the mayor refused to come down, but when it looked as if we might stay and the media were gathering, he did come. Eventually he agreed to bury the children, relocate the families to Payatas and punish the demolition team.
We buried the dead children then in the saddest funeral I have ever attended. We were in the pauper’s plot of the cemetery where the bones of other dead stuck out of the soil. There was no priest or anyone to say a prayer, except the parents and neighbors.
The families of the dead children still live in that area. The children greeting me as Santa Claus may have been their brothers and sisters. The place is as dirty and crowded as ever and the people are still threatened with eviction.
God keeps giving us beautiful children and we keep forcing them to live in slums like Balintawak. “What have you done with my children?” God may well ask us one day. While we rebuild the city after “Ondoy,” can we concentrate on what is the most important need for us to worry about, namely, the future of the children of the poor?
It is Christmas, isn’t it? Good things can happen.
Denis Murphy works with the Urban Poor Associates. His email address is upa@pldtdsl.net.
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20091229-244578/Santa-in-Balintawak
©Copyright 2001-2009 INQUIRER.net, An Inquirer Company
Rehabilitating riverside settlements
Inquirer Opinion / Columns
Commentary : Rehabilitating riverside settlements
By Anna Marie Karaos
Institute On Church And Social Issues
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: December 29, 2009
THREE months after storm “Ondoy” wreaked havoc on Metro Manila, a workable solution has yet to be found for rehabilitating the riverside settlements whose inhabitants suffered the brunt of the floods. The only solution government has put forward so far is to prohibit the informal settlers from returning to their riverside residences and to accelerate the construction of off-city resettlement sites.
But informal settlers have re-established themselves in the river easements in the absence of alternative places where Metro Manila’s workers can find affordable housing close to their sources of jobs and livelihood. Why does government insist on relying on a tired, ineffectual policy? How rational can it be to do same thing over and over again and expect a different result?
Urban planners claim that Manila lost a golden opportunity to re-plan and rebuild itself after the city was destroyed during World War II. The danger of missing on another opportunity to put things right looms again if public authorities fail to come up with new land policies and redevelopment approaches in response to the wake-up call delivered by Ondoy.
How we frame the problem determines what solutions we will find and where we will look for them. If the problem is simply understood as how and where to provide permanent housing for the 80,000 families living on the easements of Metro Manila’s rivers and waterways, resettlement would seem logical. However, urban poverty specialists contend that the real problem is how to preserve the fragile access poor people have to the advantages offered by cities, principally jobs and services essential for survival and upward mobility like health and education. They argue that living in cities is the best self-help strategy poor people have devised to overcome poverty and therefore government policies should be designed in ways that would protect poor people’s access to the benefits of living in cities.
If we accept that the old solution does not work, and by this I mean specifically large-scale off-city resettlement, shouldn’t we begin thinking differently about the “problem” of informal settlements?
As a start, I propose two new ways of thinking.
My first proposition is that finding a solution to rehabilitating the riverside communities cannot be divorced from a city-wide, even nation-wide, reform of urban land policy. We should begin to think not just land use or land management but land governance. Land governance is about linking decisions on the allocation and use of land to social needs and political processes. Land is a finite and social resource that should be harnessed to meet social needs and purposes. Determining what these needs and purposes are involves a political process. If we claim we are a democracy, this political process needs to be inclusive. Decision-making on land uses and what social needs to prioritize must be inclusive both in process and in outcome. When more than half a million Metro Manila families live in slums or informal settlements without legal tenure and 80,000 of them have to live on river easements, there is no land governance. Governance has clearly failed to be inclusive in its outcome.
How does government plan to use the land resources that it still controls? What land laws and policies would be needed to channel private and public land to socially desirable uses? Are these questions being asked at all? Cities are densifying and land prices keep rising. The distribution of urban space will increasingly become more inequitable. Is anyone paying any attention to this problematic scenario? What tenure systems should we encourage to make housing affordable to the greater number of urban residents? Should we insist on the disposition of lands through titling of individual plots? Or can other tenure systems be promoted such as community land trusts, land use rights, rental housing, community leases and usufruct arrangements on private and government-owned lands? These tenure systems have the advantage of providing legal access to land without a heavy financial burden on poor users. The key is giving poor people legal access to urban space, not providing land titles.
What about multi-story housing for urban poor residents? A poor country like Sri Lanka has made it work through land sharing and cross-subsidy schemes.
My second proposition is that poor people are the best resource for finding a solution to making riverside rehabilitation sustainable. In Surabaya and Bangkok, the development of riverside settlements was negotiated successfully by the informal dwellers with their city governments. Official policy shifted from resettlement to redevelopment through the organization of the riverside communities which made a commitment and a plan to upgrade their homes, clear space for riverside roads, install septic tanks and keep the rivers clean. The government took responsibility for building the roads, dredging the rivers and collecting the accumulated waste from the riverbeds. Many riverside communities in Metro Manila have capable organizations which can easily replicate this strategy with the support of their local governments.
We would do well to heed the call of Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, who said in a recent pastoral letter: “It is not enough to simply order people off the waterways. A deep restructuring of our society is called for, starting in the present crisis with urban land policy.” The Manila archbishop presented concrete proposals, including urban land reform, a follow-through on presidential land proclamations, taxation of idle lands and a moratorium on eviction for as long as humane and adequate relocation cannot be provided. He reminded us, in the words of the psalmist, that “unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20091229-244576/Rehabilitating-riverside-settlements
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