Eviction of Occupied Areas in the Province of Bulacan, Philippines

Eviction of Occupied Areas in the Province of Bulacan, Philippines

Liberalisation of the housing market , Urban development policies , Privatisation of state housing and propoerty

Asia

Philippines

Pandi

Padre Pio, Villa Luis, Pandi Residence 3, Pandi Village 2

Occupation of idle housing around several resettlement sites of the government

20000

Squatters

Unemployed/unsalaried , Informal sector work

None of the above

Various

We are writing from the Philippines on behalf of the current occupation of around 6,000 idle homes in Bulacan, a province nearby Metro Manila. KADAMAY is a national alliance of urban poor Filipinos and last March 8 2017, we led a successful campaign to occupy thousands of idle homes in resettlement sites. Women took the lead on this occasion marking International Women’s Day as well.

The occupation is a result of the failure of the National Housing Authotity (NHA) and the national government to heed the demands of the poor for housing rights. Last year, we held five dialogues with shelter agencies concerning the state of relocation sites. We aired our demands along with thousands of representatives yet these were left on deaf ears, even at the Presidential palace.

Aside from having severely inadequate public facilities and utilities like water and electricity, there are sky high amortization costs. This is on top of the glaring lack of employment opportunities. One of the more apparent issues is the number of people in relocation sites without actual housing units. Many of the people are renters, sharers and homeless.

The NHA has already admitted in past years that the number one problem of relocation sites is the exodus back to the cities. People simply cannot cope with the costs that require you to pay up to 500,000 pesos over a period of 30 years. To gain water and electricity, even for limited times, they are forced to pay rates higher than that of Manila since private corporations monopolize utilize in these areas.

The occupation was very much met with disdain by government and housing officials. Police and military have been deployed for constant harassment, food blockades have been setup to starve the occupants. There are also smear campaigns that say we are threatening violence against other residents or that we took the housing units from other beneficiaries. In truth, many of the thousands of homes (15 to 20 thousand) have been idle for 5 years or more. Only dust, vegetation and insects reside in those homes.

A study by the NHA itself last September that only 8% of around 60,000 homes erected for Police and Military personnel were occupied. This is only the ones made for the authorities. Many others are vacant because the government will not allow anyone to live there without going through a rigorous, taxing and unjust amortization scheme.

At the same time, according to data from the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP), from January 2012 to December 2016, there were 1,279 cases of demolition which affected 250,000 families and displaced around 1.2 million individuals.

While there has been support from many marginalized groups and sectors, the President has now echoed and formalized the eviction notice against the occupation. The eviction is set on March 27. We find it extremely ironic, how the government touts its process of acquiring housing, lambasts for not committing to the process (even if we had several dialogues) and yet can manage to stage an eviction in a matter of days.

Our occupation highlights a humanitarian and housing crisis of the homeless in the country. This was an organized efforts in assertion of the rights of the poor that have been neglected and exploited in so far as we can remember. The failure of the housing officials and the national government to fulfill its duty to the poor is what prompted this and they are the ones who should be evicted.

At the moment, we keep our barricades strong and are seeking greater support from all over the world. We have already met with representatives of Congress and they have filed an inquiry into the House of Representatives into the housing problem. However, now the president seems intent on the eviction.

Local

Universal Declaration of Human Rights , International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 11)

Illegal occupation

see case history

National Housing Authority, empowered by the Presidential Decree No. 1472, s. 1978 Signed on June 11, 1978 (under dictator Aquino) without bringing court actions.  This way not only the NHA violates the housing rights but also the proper trial proceedings set by the General comments n. 4 and n. 7 to the art. 11 ICESCR

KADAMAY the national alliance of Filipino urban poor.

All organizations under the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or New Patriotic Alliance.

Community barricades

Other

Immediate awarding of occupied housing units

Eviction notice to be served on March 20. Eviction set between March 27-29 2017

Michael Beltran, 506-A, NS Amoranto Street, barangay St. Peter, QC. Information Officer of KADAMAY National Office

KADAMAY - Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap

Participates in Zero Evictions Campaign

20.03.17

Michael Philip Beltran