(Three days before Aquino's Second SONA) Militants hang PNoy's 'Bugok na Itlog' icons on overpasses leading to Batasan, gear for a bigger mob coming from urban poor of QC on July 25

NEWS RELEASE I July 22, 2011

QUEZON CITY—More urban poor will flood the street of Commonwealth Avenue to Batasang Pambansa and put a halt to anti-poor, rotten programs of the Aquino administration.

This is the statement of militant urban poor Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) three days before Aquino's Second State of the Nation Address (SONA), as members hang big 'Bugok na Itlog'-icon of the president to encourage more urban poor of Quezon City and nationwide to join the nationally-coordinated protest on July 25. Some members distribute icon-stickers and flyers to passing pedestrians and commuters.

According to the urban poor group, the rotten egg symbolizes for Aquino's dysfunctional, corrupt-prone poverty alleviation progra, primarily his dole-out program, the Cash Conditional Transfer.

The objective conditions after Aquino's first year in office assure us a bigger mobilization coming from the informal sectors nationwide, especially from the vicinity of Batasang Pambansa,” the militant group's national secretary-general Gloria Arellano says.

Recent SWS survey noted a higher percentage of the population rating themselves poor, from an average of 48% in 2010 to 51% in 2011 equivalent to 10.4 million Filipino families. Among them, 4.1 million households are experiencing involuntary hunger.These data are worse than during the term of Arroyo.

“The widespread poverty and hunger due to joblessness, meager wage increase and unbated price hikes and Aquino's misled and therefore ineffectual poverty alleviation effort, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) make it easy to drive the poor into the streets,” Arellano adds

Members of Kadamay has recently stormed DSWD and NAPC throwing rotten eggs at the effigies of Aquino and the former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who first implemented the program during her trem. The group questioned the lack of basis for the expansion of CCT, the centerpiece of Aquino's poverty alleviation program, as well as the susceptibility of its 21-billion fund to corruption.

“Though Aquino has maintain a 'good' net satisfaction rating according to surveys, the issues and the demand of the people to change the status-quo assure us a mobilization bigger compared to previous years,coming from the urban poor sector,” Arellano adds.

Forty per cent of Quezon City's population are urban poor, accounting to 222,744 families according to the Metro Manila Development Authority. Aside from the lack of jobs and livelihood programs from the government, they suffered the worst attacks from the Aquino administration in forms of demolition and eviction from their communities.

Arellano states: “In Quezon City alone, thousands face eviction from their communities due to pro-capitalist development projects of both the national and local government. Not less than 5,000 urban poor families were relocated to relocation sites in Montalban and Bulacan on Aquino's first year alone to give way to development projects like the QC-Central Business District, the C5 North-Extension Project and the National Government Center. Most of the relocatees went back to their communities because of the worse condition in the relocation areas.”

“On July 25, we call on the thousands of urban poor families in Quezon City and neighboring cities to go out of their communities and flock the streets leading to Batasang Pambansa. The same call is addressed to every urban poor in all cities nationwide to join in the nationally-coordinated protest of various organizations under Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) on Aquino's second SONA. We suffered the most on his first year alone, and we can't stand 5 more years under the anti-poor administration of Aquino,” according to Kadamay.

In Quezon City, the militant group expects thousands of urban poor to flood Commonwealth Ave with assembly point at the Litex area for the urban poor coming from Montalban relocation area, Payatas Area and neighboring communities. Urban poor coming from the North and East Tringle Areas together with other communities to be wiped out by QC-CBD project will march Luzon-Puregold along Commonwealth, a multi-sectoral assembly point. At 10am, they will start the march leading to the Batasang Pambansa.

REFERENCE: Gloria Arellano, Kadamay National Sec-Gen (09213927457)