PRESS RELEASE l 05 DEC 2011
KALIPUNAN NG DAMAYANG MAHIHIRAP
REFERENCE FOR INTERVIEW: Jocy Lopez, Kadamay North Triangle chair (0909725918, 09282998089); Gloria Arellano, Kadamay national sec-gen (09213927457)
QUEZON CITY, Philippines--North Triangle residents whose lives have been miserable because of threat of demolition vow to make Congressman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's every day in the Veterans Memorial Medical Center as miserable as theirs. This morning they staged protest action at the North Ave gate of the VMMC against the hospital arrest of the former president. They brought a human cage supposedly for the ex-president.
They also gave a special warning to Aquino that he will suffer the same fate of Arroyo if he won't stop the demolition of homes in the urban poor communities around VMMC, and in other cities in the country to give way to 'development projects' under his Public-Private Partnership program.
"[Today's action] is our means of seeking reprisal for the thousands of lives that have become worse after [Arroyo] ordered the demolition of our homes, including the VMMC, five years ago," said Jocy Lopez, and community leader from Sitio San Roque.
"A hospital arrest is not enough to make her pay. Everyone in San Roque (in North Triangle) would be happy to see her in jail. She has robbed us not only of the right to adequate and decent housing, but also the right to a decent life," explained Lopez.
Residents consider CGMA as the ‘mastermind’ of a massive demolition that affects some 24,000 urban poor families in Quezon City after she signed in 2007 Executive Order (EO) 620 (Rationalizing and speeding up the development of the East and North Triangles, and the Veterans Memorial Area of Quezon City, as a well-planned, integrated and environmentally balanced mixed-use development model) and EO 620-A (Expanding the composition of the Urban Triangle Development Commission and clarifying its structure and functions).
According to Lopez, chair of Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) North Triangle, these executive orders have legitimized the land grabbing by the National Housing Authority of some 37 hectares property in Sitio San Roque occupied by not less than 11,000 families by 2007. A previous executive order from Malacanang in 2002, EO 106, has already promised land tenure to the residents of San Roque.
EO 620 &620-A
But the issue of land tenure and ownership of land was not resolved until the signing of EO 620 in May 2007 leading to the creation of Quezon City Central Business District (QCCBD). With the issuance of E0 620, Arroyo then drew the line for informal settlers to fence them out of Sitio San Roque. Under the order, affected residents can avail of on-site land sharing and medium rise buildings (MRBs), in-city relocation, or relocation to nearby cities with fair compensation packages.
“Other than electoral sabotage and corruption, she has to be made accountable, too, for thousands of families who have suffered in the relocation sites in an inhuman condition. She must pay for the misery that we feel as we are bothered every now and then by threats of eviction from our community,” Lopez explained.
"While Arroyo now feels how it is to be against-all-odds, as we have experienced every time the government tried to demolish our homes, she must have regretted the day she signed those executive orders, and had a done-deal with the Ayalas and big businessmen."
According to Kadamay national secretary-general Gloria Arellano, “the urban poor won't feel justice being served unless CGMA is treated like an ordinary citizen facing a court trial and put into jail. We never forget the countless human right atrocities she had committed against the Filipino people. Ang VMMC ay para sa mga beterano, hindi para sa mga berdugo.”
Aquino may be worse than Arroyo
“But it seems Aquino has been worse than ‘ex-president’ on how he treats the urban poor. North Triangle residents, for example, have had the real taste of demolition as soon as Aquino assumed his office,” Arellano added.
Last September 23, 2010, four months after Aquino has sworn into office the nation has witnessed the 'most tragic aggression to urban poor settlers' known as the “Battle of EDSA” when NHA-hired demolition team, SWAT and the PNP joined hands to demolish the homes in Sitio San Roque. The confrontation had resulted to a seven-hour stand-off at EDSA with casualties on the side of the residents and the demolition squad.
Recent events surrounding the arrest of Arroyo must also give some lessons to the president, according to Kadamay. "If Aquino remains as endorser of the interest of big capitalists like the Ayala, and remain to have penchant of neoliberal policies at the expense of his constituents, as his recent actions seem to be, he would certainly suffer the same fate as his predecessor. The urban poor and the Filipino people will not let him escape,” Arellano ended. ###
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