PR - 20th Death Anniversary of Ka Eddie Guazon

PRESS STATEMENT

MAY 19, 2009

On the 20th Death Anniversary of KPML’s First President

KA EDDIE GUAZON

(August 13, 1925 - May 19,1989)

"Ang kasiguruhan sa paninirahan ay karapatan ng bawat mamamayan maging siya man ay maralita. (Security to have home to dwell on is a right of every citizen even if he or she is poor)"

This is the firm belief of Ka Eddie Guazon, the first president of the urban poor group Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralitang Lunsod (KPML). He died twenty years ago fighting for this belief. He died after he suffered a heart attack during the Senate Committee hearing on housing and demolition, when he denied a police testimony on cruel demolitions inflicted to the poor. He was rushed to the nearby Philippine General Hospital (PGH) but declared dead on arrival. Even in the last minutes of his life, Tatay Eddie, as everyone in the urban poor circle called him, fights for the rights and welfare of the urban poor.

Tatay Eddie Guazon was born in Placer, Surigao del Norte. He became an orphan in the very young age. In 1947, he went to Manila, and worked by selling newspapers and cigarettes in Quiapo. Until he worked as laborer in DPWH, while studying at University of Manila at night, but did not finish schooling because of poverty. He was a clerk when he married Felicitas “Nanay Feling” Griar, his provincemate. In 1963, they lived at Barrio Magsaysay in Tondo, where he started his work as a community leader.

He became the leader of Kapisanang Maginoo in his area, then president of Samahang Kristiyanong Komunidad. From then on, he fight for the urban poors’ rights and welfare. During the early years of the Marcos regime, he lead Barrio Magsaysay folks in demanding to President Marcos lands for the urban poor families. During the martial law, he twice arrested without warrant. He was jailed in Fort Bonifacio in 1974 and in Bicutan in 1978. Because of this, he was forced to retire from work, and then concentrate in organizing the urban poor. In the campaign against Marcos, Tatay Eddie lead the Coalition of Urban Poor Against Poverty (CUPAP) in the struggle against anti-poor laws, policies and programs of the government.

In 1986, the Aquino government held the national consultation- workshop, where it organized the National Congress of Urban Poor Organizations (NACUPO). And one of Tatay Eddie’s demand here is to have an agency for the urban poor that will represent the poor in planning and implementation of programs and policies of the government. After the said workshop, the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) was born.

When the PCUP was conceived, it recommended demolitions in many areas such as Talayan in Quezon City and in Sta. Mesa, Manila. Because of these, Tatay Eddie gave harsh criticism of the PCUP and the Aquino government in the rallies and talk shows.

On December 18, 1986, three urban poor groups – the Coalition of Urban Poor Against Poverty (CUPAP), the Pagkakaisa ng Mamamayan ng Navotas (PAMANA) and Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO) – joined together to form the Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng mga Maralita ng Lungsod (KPML), and Tatay Eddie was elected as its first president.

He died May 19, 1989. Today, Ka Eddie’ legacy remains in the heart and mind of the leaders and members of KPML, ZOTO, and other allied organizations. They still continue to fight for the people’s right to housing.