Development Projects Bulldozing Urban Poor Communities

As in the past, the country’s slum dwellers are the first to fall as government pushes its development projects. In Calabarzon south of Manila, the town of Sta. Rosa, Laguna has seen recent demolitions and several families have been forced to relocate on a basketball court.

By Dennis Espada
Bulatlat.com

Residents attempt to stop a demolition team from tearing down their shanties in Sta. Rosa, Laguna

Photo courtesy of ST Exposure

STA. ROSA, Laguna--Tension appears to have halted for now, but life has not returned to normal in Pulong Santa Cruz, a semi-urban barangay in this town, about 50 kms south of Manila. Uncertainty is still very much in the air, as about 100 families confine themselves on knitted, makeshift houses made of wood, tents and cartons sheets built on a basketball court. Living has gone much harder. And it's a harrowing prospect that what happened in Santa Cruz could be repeated tomorrow in scores of other places.

Forced eviction

The violent eviction of urban poor communities comprising 400 families in the land that is supposedly owned by Andasol Finance Corporation took place last Oct. 22 and Nov. 21 last year. The evictions were carried out despite the fact that the municipal government of Santa Rosa had not assigned a site for relocation.

Forty six-year-old Ester Guarte, one of the residents, recalls vividly what she went through during those incidents.

Although at first, there were long and repeated hearsays in the neighborhood that a demolition will took place any time soon, she admits being unmindful of it until a team of policemen and security guards arrived with a bulldozer and started tearing down their houses early morning of Oct. 22.

Her account: "Wala kaming nalalaman kung ano ang nangyayari, sa kalituhan ko tumakbo ako ng tumakbo. Tumawag ako ng mga tao para magpatulong na hakutin ang mga gamit ko na mailabas” (we didn't know what's happening. I ran and ran out of confusion. I called some people to help me move out my stuff).

"Umiiyak ako...Ano'ng magagawa ko? Sa dami namin dun ay walang kumikilos, walang nagsasabing lumaban kami, labanan namin. Dahil di ko pa noon alam ang sistema ng aming paglaban at karapatan” (I was crying..What can I do? We were many but nobody moved. Nobody told us to fight for our rights because we don't know what they are and how to do it), she said tearfully.

But on Jan. 22, hundreds of residents clashed with another demolition team composed of the Santa Rosa Special Action Forces (led by Col. Danilo Castro and a certain Colonel Marudo), security guards and firemen. Armed with water cannons and sticks, the demolition team beat up the protesters, including children, who had massed up to resist them. Later, the police arrested, handcuffed and detained nine women, among them Ester. The violence caused her fear and trauma that still lingers today.

Progress for whom?

In an interview by a local radio station Rnb 92.7 FM Our Radio last Sept. 4, Leng Jucutan, secretary-general of Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap in Southern Tagalog (Kadamay-ST), said that the recent demolitions particularly in Pulong Santa Cruz show the Macapagal-Arroyo government's insincerity in caring for the poor and the landless. The so-called "development" projects, such as the clearing of major roads and highways in the Calabarzon (for the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) near the industrial zones, she said, only benefit foreign investors and corrupt government officials.

"The poor are always the victims in these projects. And the government has no definite housing program to support them," Jucutan said.

Pilside Neighborhood Association, a local urban poor group, has filed charges of human rights violations against members of the demolition team before the Ombudsman, adding that the men violated Section 28 of Republic Act 7279 (Urban Housing Development Act) which requires due process concerning demolitions.

Appeal

Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) plans to carry out a road clearing scheme along the Balibago road toward the Southern Luzon Expressway exit, which will displace several poor families living by the highway.

Barangay chairman Constancia Dones of Pulong Santa Cruz has appealed to the DPWH to halt any road clearing plans until the affected communities have found and later, transferred to a relocation site. Bulatlat.com

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