Running Priest Together with the Urban Poor on a Non-Stop 28 Hour Pilgrimage

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-

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-

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-

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.

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