PRESS RELEASE
November 23, 2009
One hundred people from the urban poor groups Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng mga Maralita ng Lunsod (KPML) and Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO) picketed the offices of four agencies to protest its ineptness in immediately solving the housing problem of the urban poor and the human wrongs inflicted against the poor. They picketed first the office of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP), then the office of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), in the morning, and in the afternoon, they went to the office of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), and ended their protest in the picket at the National Housing Authority (NHA), all of the offices were in Quezon City.
Ka Pedring Fadrigon, KPML president, said, “Do the authority deeply hates the urban poor that hatred motivates them to demolish the so-called “squatters”? Government authorities seems to have a deep hatred on the urban poor. Is this class war? Instead of understanding the plight of the urban poor, the authorities breed hatred. Instead of just and humane negotiation on housing, urban poor residents got injured or killed in defending their only homes. Is this what the urban poor deserved? Hatred. What the poor wants is decent housing with decent jobs or livelihood nearby. What the urban poor wants is progress with social justice.”
Fadrigon cited the recent demolition of houses and harassment of the urban poor in Baclaran, the shooting to death of an urban poor leader in Pechayan in North Fairview, and the many threat of demolition of urban poor victims of typhoon Ondoy, which according to group, is unjustified, because there is no just relocation site for the affected families. “The people is suffering from these unjust demolitions. The government considered us rats, not people with rights and honor. This should be stopped. What we want is a lasting solution, moratorium on demolition or a just relocation site. When we say just relocation site, we refer to in-city relocations near our jobs, and the houses are affordable, safe and adequate, not a distant relocation far from our jobs,” Fadrigon explained.
Ka Lydia Ela, ZOTO president, added, “Urban poor doesn’t want to live in danger zones, but we lived there because of necessity. But if we will be treated like vermin and our houses will be demolished without proper consultation, and no properly processed relocation site, this is tantamount of pushing us from danger zones to death zones. This is what we abhor. Letting the urban poor homes intact now, until proper negotiations with the urban poor will be done, is a great gesture of service and love for their fellowmen.”
November 23, 2009
We are not rats!
URBAN POOR PROTESTS IN FOUR GOVERNMENT AGENCIESOne hundred people from the urban poor groups Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng mga Maralita ng Lunsod (KPML) and Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO) picketed the offices of four agencies to protest its ineptness in immediately solving the housing problem of the urban poor and the human wrongs inflicted against the poor. They picketed first the office of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP), then the office of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), in the morning, and in the afternoon, they went to the office of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), and ended their protest in the picket at the National Housing Authority (NHA), all of the offices were in Quezon City.
Ka Pedring Fadrigon, KPML president, said, “Do the authority deeply hates the urban poor that hatred motivates them to demolish the so-called “squatters”? Government authorities seems to have a deep hatred on the urban poor. Is this class war? Instead of understanding the plight of the urban poor, the authorities breed hatred. Instead of just and humane negotiation on housing, urban poor residents got injured or killed in defending their only homes. Is this what the urban poor deserved? Hatred. What the poor wants is decent housing with decent jobs or livelihood nearby. What the urban poor wants is progress with social justice.”
Fadrigon cited the recent demolition of houses and harassment of the urban poor in Baclaran, the shooting to death of an urban poor leader in Pechayan in North Fairview, and the many threat of demolition of urban poor victims of typhoon Ondoy, which according to group, is unjustified, because there is no just relocation site for the affected families. “The people is suffering from these unjust demolitions. The government considered us rats, not people with rights and honor. This should be stopped. What we want is a lasting solution, moratorium on demolition or a just relocation site. When we say just relocation site, we refer to in-city relocations near our jobs, and the houses are affordable, safe and adequate, not a distant relocation far from our jobs,” Fadrigon explained.
Ka Lydia Ela, ZOTO president, added, “Urban poor doesn’t want to live in danger zones, but we lived there because of necessity. But if we will be treated like vermin and our houses will be demolished without proper consultation, and no properly processed relocation site, this is tantamount of pushing us from danger zones to death zones. This is what we abhor. Letting the urban poor homes intact now, until proper negotiations with the urban poor will be done, is a great gesture of service and love for their fellowmen.”
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