Slow motions highlight 3-year old case vs MMDA

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Slow motions highlight 3-year old case vs MMDA

23 August 2007. Some 70 poor families who are seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to prevent their eviction and the demolition of their houses along San Juan River are hoping that their 3-year old case may finally be heard at 2:00 o’clock in the afternoon today after series of motions to reset hearing filed by the MMDA’s legal counsel.

Petitioners, who are residents of Gregorio Araneta Avenue Extension, Brgy. Dona Imelda in Quezon City, filed their petition for injunction and for a TRO November 4, 2004 at the Quezon City Hall of Justice.

Pursuant to the order of Hon. Vivencio Baclig, the Presiding Judge of Branch 77, the case was set for pre-trial conference on June 29, 2005. With an urgent motion to reset hearing, lawyer Thomas Laragan, a Senior State Solicitor, requested the court that the hearing be cancel and reset to August 31 because he will be attending several cases against the government in Bago City and Bacolod City.

The Solicitor again begs for the “understanding” of the court as he requested for the cancellation of the pre-trial and its resetting to October 12 because he will be leaving for Washington D.C. and San Francisco California, United States of America (USA) to attend the observation tour for Philippine law enforcement. However, in a very urgent motion to reset hearing, the Solicitor again requested for the cancellation of the hearing and its resetting to November 16 or any other date convenient to the calendar of the court because he is busy preparing the government’s comment on the constitutionality of Executive Order No. 464.

“The instant motion is not intended to delay, much less to trifle with the generosity of the honorable court,” Laragan stated in all his motions, to which the court acceded.

Thereafter, on July 13, 2007 the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) received court order setting the case for hearing on August 1. However, with another urgent motion to reset hearing, the Solicitor requested for the cancellation of the hearing and its resetting to August 23 because the Solicitor will travel to USA and that his trip abroad is covered by a duly approved application for leave of absence chargeable against his leave credits and that his expenses shall not be borne by the government.

“Mga 15 to 20 times na siguro na-reset. Bihira ko makita abogado ng MMDA. Siguro delaying tactic nga. Kasi labag sa batas ang mga ginagawa ng MMDA sa pagdedemolis,” said Jose Morales, one of the 25 petitioners.

To assuage their fear of being thrown into the streets, petitioners had sought the assistance of Urban Poor Associates (UPA), a non-government organization defending the housing rights of the urban poor.

Evictions are not a viable solution to the problem of slum dwelling, according to UPA. UPA research demonstrated that evicting poor people, without alternatives, does nothing to reduce the total number of slums. This is so because evictees invariably move into other slums in the area, sometimes after long periods of out on the street. Conditions in street are generally just as or even more unhealthy and unsafe as the shanties from which evictees were originally removed.

“We are deeply saddened by the impunity of illegal demolitions which swept through several areas in Metro Manila as typhoon lashes the country,” said Teodoro Añana, UPA deputy coordinator.

“The government is under a constitutional duty to devise and implement a plan to provide basic shelter for those who are in desperate need. Yet the government has manifestly failed to perform on its obligation to cater for them. It is this failure to provide alternatives which leaves the poor vulnerable to disasters,” Añana added.

MMDA personnel have recently informed the poor families that their homes will be demolished any time this August 17 to 31. ###

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Housing rights advocates slam ‘summit makeover’

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Housing rights advocates slam ‘summit makeover’

27 July 2007. “Fresh paint, landscaping, rounding up beggars and clearing squatters will not do the trick.”

Following efforts to show off ‘good impressions’, a housing rights advocacy group has criticized ‘extreme makeovers’ that are being made in preparation for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) ministerial meeting in Manila to be held from July 29 to August 2.

Expecting delegates to arrive for the Asean ministerial meeting, authorities have started sprucing up poor communities hoping some serious cosmetic surgery can help mask its poverty.

They may only be going to stay for five days but finding enough ‘Filipino hospitality’ posed a real problem and may costs millions of pesos, according to Urban Poor Associates (UPA), a non-government organization that monitors forced evictions.

Large international conferences such as the ASEAN Summit are often accompanied by human rights violations, such as the demolitions of poor communities in host cities. UPA called on the government to stop this culture of ‘self deception’ saying not to disguise the fact that the much vaunted development and economic growth which the government so desperately wanted to display to potential foreign investors was not benefiting large sections of Philippine society.

Based from the UPA Demolition Monitor, from January to June this year some 5,745 families in Metro Manila lost their houses due to demolitions. UPA expects this year’s evictions to possibly even top the magnitude of evictions in 2006 and 2005.

“Unlike in 2004 when the number of demolitions dramatically went down mainly because of the national elections, in the first six months of this year during which the electoral campaign and May 14 voting took place the number of demolitions did not appreciably decrease. The reason could be because this year’s elections did not involve the president,” said Teodoro Añana, deputy coordinator of UPA.

Painting jobs, forced evictions and demolitions were also carried out in preparation for the 12th ASEAN Summit hosted by Metro Cebu. Nearly 210 people (42 families) were left homeless in September 2006 when police demolished their houses, situated in front of the Shangri-la Mactan Resort and Spa in Mactan Island, to make way for a parking lot that was used by Summit participants. More than 600 homes were also demolished in Mandaue City and Lapu-lapu City. Of the 600 families (3,000 people) rendered homeless by these demolitions, only 100 families were moved to a temporary relocation site. The temporary relocation site has no basic services such as electricity and potable water.

Cities especially in developing countries like the Philippines will be preferred home of an increasing proportion of the world’s poor people, city governments cannot avoid the problem of slums and homelessness for too long, according to the Institute on Church and Social Issues (ICSI).

“Sooner than later, they will have to confront the problem or face the prospects of urban decay, social violence and the overall deterioration of the quality of their life in their cities,” said Dr. Anna Marie Karaos, ICSI executive director. “But if local governments can act swiftly in partnership, rather than in constant conflict, with the poor who clamor for decent housing, they can fashion cities where everyone, the rich and the poor alike, can live productive lives.” -30-

Shanty-dwellers near Taguig railroad leave

Railway residents have 3 months to relocate

Catholic Bishop backs group in fight against urban poverty

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Catholic Bishop backs group in fight against urban poverty

15 July 2007. Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo added his voice to the initiative being pursued by the Urban Poor Alliance (UP-ALL), a coalition of non-government organizations (NGOs), people’s organizations (PO) and individuals all over the country who are working for the advancement of the urban poor particularly in facilitating the right to decent housing.

UP-ALL have found an ally with the Housing Committee Chairman of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in its third general assembly at the Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM) Convent in Quezon City over the weekend.

Expressing his support and solidarity, Bishop Pabillo said he will help the group as it pursues the more urgent issues and concerns such as eviction, resettlement, basic services, land proclamation, community mortgage program, and women and gender.

Bishop Pabillo further noted that preventing and minimizing urban poverty requires solving rural poverty. As an example, he told the story of poor dwellers under a bridge in a parish in Las Piñas City. “Merong mga squatters sa ilalim ng tulay at ang kanilang sahig ay styrofoam. Para kapag tumatataas ang tubig, aakyat din sila. Kapag bumaba ang tubig, bababa din sila. Kung maganda na ang buhay at may trabaho na, aalis na sila. Pero may bago na naman na papasok. So hindi talaga mauubos iyan.”

According to Bishop Pabillo, urban poverty may be reduced through job creations, health services and better education. “Ang aking ideya dyan ay ang mga tao ay may regular na trabaho pero hindi ganun ang sitwasyon ng maraming urban poor. Nagtitinda lang iyan ng mga bulaklak dyan, hindi naman may regular na trabaho iyan,” explained the Bishop.

At a dinner meeting at Malacañang last July 5 with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Bishop Pabillo called the government’s attention to forced evictions despite its failure to provide job opportunities to relocated urban poor families.

The Urban Poor Associates (UPA), an NGO that provides free legal assistance to underprivileged homeless, lamented that the government has concentrated on the demolition of urban poor communities rather than on housing, as called for by the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA). Idle government lands earmarked for low-cost housing are being sold to private investors, according to UPA.

UPA have asked several Church leaders to intervene in impending demolitions because it may leave thousands homeless. Bishop Pabillo said many priests and Bishops are willing to help but the problem is many church people do not know the urban poor issues. “Hindi nila malalaman yung isyu kung hindi ninyo ilalapit sa kanila. Alam naman natin na yung isyu ng kahirapan, malapit sa puso ng mga tao iyan kung alam lamang nila. Problema hindi nila alam,” he added.

Since its formation in 2005, UP-ALL is further consolidating its ranks in Bicol, Visayas, Mindanao and Mega Manila. It has come up with a 14-point agenda. Among these include:
· The establishment of a local housing board that would manage and respond to the needs of the urban poor, particularly in facilitating the latter's right to housing and basic services.
· A guarantee that families threatened by eviction due to development projects would be allowed to meaningfully participate in policy and planning processes especially in ensuring in-city relocation including economic opportunities within the locality
· Regular allocation of adequate funds for housing through a multi-stakeholder process and ensuring that budget on housing even on the level of the Barangay represents the interest of the Gender and
Development framework. -30-