Led by residents of North Triangle who are facing threat of forcible eviction tomorrow, and residents in Kasiglahan Village relocation sites in Rodriguez, Rizal, different urban poor groups will stage synchronized community protests at 4pm this afternoon three years after Aquino assumed his post as president.
According to urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY), Aquino's three years in office were marked with violence and bloodshed as the urban poor resist massive demolition of urban poor communities to give way to development projects that only benefit a few foreign and local businessmen.
KADAMAY has recorded at least 13 anti-demolition urban poor killed by state forces under Aquino's three years in office. And as tens of thousands of urban poor Filipinos have been forcibly evicted from their communities, majority of the 48,358 housing units that are built by the Aquino from July 2010 to November 2012 are found in off-city relocation sites that are considered as death zones by the informal settlers for lacking basic social services and employment opportunities.
According to the group, the path towards poverty-alleviation and social justice for the poor Filipinos will be more turbulent as the Aquino administration enter its second half in office, after it has consolidated its ranks after the midterm election.
"We expect more violent cases of eviction from our communities in the coming months. But even so, we will not vow down to this anti-poor president," said Gloria Arellano, KADAMAY national chair.
Arellano added that on Monday, residents of at least two urban poor communities will face forcible demolition of homes, citing North Triangle in Quezon City and Bignay in Valenzuela City.
"But urban poor have rejected the off-city relocation offered to them by the government," she said.
Some 20,000 informal settler families along eight waterways in Metro Manila are expected to be evicted soon from their homes as the government deceptively enforces its flood control master plan.
"The Aquino government should be made accountable for the violent demolition and massive relocation of tens of thousands of urban poor to off-city relocation sites. It is not only responsible for violating our right to adequate housing, but also for contributing to poverty that beset our family," she added.
On the same day last year, KADAMAY has called on the Filipino people to oust president Aquino from his office, only two years after he took his oath as the country's chief executive.###
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