Train Rehab to Bump Off Thousands of Dwellers

Carmelita S. Agustin loathes the day when what she considers the biggest anxiety of her life would come. The house along the railway of Barangay (village) San Pablo, Malolos Bulacan – her family’s home for the last 24 years – will soon be gone. And with it, thousands of other shanties.

BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
Bulatlat

Today, close to 1,000 small houses line both sides of the railway in the community. The shanties are built mostly of uneven pieces of wood, rusty galvanized iron and milk cartons. Dwellers here say they have learned to live within the danger zone for lack of choice. Today, as the government prepares to rehabilitate the railways, they face a more dreadful danger: that of losing their homes.   

Since 1980, Aling Carmelita had been going to the PNR office every year to pay rent amounting to P200. But in 2003, she was told by the PNR management to stop paying because the railways will be rehabilitated and that their house will be demolished when the project starts. 

Last July, members of the Northrail Development Project (link to first part) came to Aling Carmelita’s barangay (village) to tell her that her home will be torn down to give way for the railway’s rehabilitation.   

Danger zone  

Like Aling Carmelita, thousands of urban and rural poor dwellers along the railways of Manila, central and northern Luzon, today fear of losing their homes.  Based on government statistics, in the 24 villages of Caloocan City alone, which borders Manila in the north, about 20,000 households will be evicted immediately.

Cortez assured however that the Northrail will lend support to the relocation of the families who will be displaced. Elaborating, he said that when the Northrail becomes operational, P5 will be slashed from every passenger’s fare to pay for the housing project for the displaced families. The amount will be remitted to the National Transportation and Communications (NTC) which in turn will give a loan to the National Housing Authority (NHA). NHA, he said, will take care of the housing projects.  

Resettlement areas for evicted families include the Towerville site in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, the Miramonte Heights and Bank Property in Camarin and the Medium-Rise Housing in Tala in Novaliches.

Demolition In March 2003, demolition crews from the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) started clearing operations within the so-called danger zones. So far, the demolition cleared three villages: Barangays 1, 2 and 80 which lie beside the Caloocan train terminal. In all, according to the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay, an urban poor organization), 300 families were evicted. The families, said Leona Zarsuela, Kadamay vice chairperson, have since been resettled several kilometers away at Towerville, a medium high-rise residential building in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan.

Red marks spell danger.  Northrail inspectors put red marks on one of the houses to be torn down along the railway of Malolos.

Since most of the resettled families earn their living near the railway, some of them have gone back, Zarsuela added. Others keep their units at Towerville but go to the terminal doing odd jobs for living.

Where to scrounge for living in the metropolis where jobs are scarce and doing odd jobs bring you trouble with MMDA and the police is the railway settlers’ chief concern now.

In the village of San Pablo in Malolos, most dwellers along the railtracks work as kargador (porters) or vendors in the nearby market.  “Kung malilipat kami ng tirahan, saan kami magtatrabaho?” (If we’re evicted, where do we find work?), said Aling Lina Mendoza.

Aling Lina, 36, who has been living with her family along the railway since the early 1990s, said her family bought their small house for P25,000 from its original dwellers. In late July, Northrail personnel conducted a survey in their area and told them that they will be relocated to Doña Remedios Trinidad in Bulacan, a two-hour ride away from Malolos. 

On the other hand, Flordeliza Edmon, 51, who has been residing along the railways of Caloocan for 15 years, worries that her two grandchildren will stop going to school if they will be relocated far from where they are now staying. 

“Kahit anong hirap ginagapang ko para mapag-aral ko lang ang mga apo ko. Kapag pinaalis nila kami dito, baka mahinto sila sa pag-aaral” (Even if we’re poor I work hard just so my grandchildren can go to school. If we’re forced to relocate to a far-away place, that would be the end of their schooling), she said. 

One of the old trains on exhibit at the old Philippine National Railways office

Photos by Aubrey Makilan

The railways in Caloocan began to be settled by poor dwellers in 1963 or during the administration of Pres. Diosdado Macapagal.

Aling Carmelita shares the sentiments of Flordeliza. She has nine grandchildren: two are in high school while seven are in elementary at a nearby public school in Malolos.  Northrail officials told her they will be relocated in an upland village several kilometers away in Norzagaray, also in Bulacan. 

New home, new life?

The government offers a “socialized housing” program for the urban and rural poor dwellers that will be relocated due to the rehabilitation of the railways. The program states that families who would avail of it can own their houses and lots or units in tenement houses after 25-30 years.

But that looks like offering pipedreams to the railway dwellers. Only “qualified families,” Kadamay’s Zarsuela said, can avail of the program. To qualify, she said, a member of the family should: a) have a certificate of residence from the demolished community, b) have contributions to the Social Security System (SSS), the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) or the Pag-IBIG, c) have enough regular salary to pay for the program, and d) be a member of any organization registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), housing agencies like the NGC, HUDCC, HIGC, PCUP, among others. 

“Who could pass these qualifications when most of the urban poor dwellers are irregular earners, most of whom are vendors or drivers?” she said. 

For lack of regular jobs, many displaced families who have resettled in relocation sites have found themselves threatened of another eviction. Those unable to pay rent, Zarsuela said, are either fined or, based on Republic Act 8501, are thrown out through “foreclosure proceedings” particularly residents who fail to pay for six months.

“The flaws in this program show that the government is not serious in addressing the housing problem of the urban and rural poor dwellers,” the Kadamay leader said.

But Zarsuela added that the housing problem is just the effect of a worse problem: unemployment.  As of April 2004, government statistics show that 13.7 percent are unemployed.  Employment rate is 86.3 percent but this includes irregular earners and non-factory workers like vendors and drivers. Bulatlat

Photos by Dabet Castañeda

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