Even during a calamity or health emergency, Bishop Reuel Marigza, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, said that compassion and human dignity should be at the heart of government officials carrying out relief operations.
“They threatened to stop our community kitchen if we will continue with the protests and placards. Will these police officers feed us?”
“The people are getting hungry. The answer to their fervent wish is simple. And yet they were violently dispersed and arrested all because this gathering is prohibited?”
“How will we strengthen our immune system when our primary problems here are the lack of food, clean water, and shelter?”, Jonathan Manesia, 38, answered when asked on how he prepares for the infectious corona virus disease (COVID-19).
The artworks remind us that the poor of San Roque are human beings deserving of dignity.
By DEE AYROSO
“They thrive on generating fear within the community only to make way for their multi-billion endeavor. It shows how those in power, public and private sector, put a premium on profits while neglecting the fact that the residents have a legitimate basis for staying and then punishing them for it. Even if it costs the life of someone as innocent as an unborn child.”
The occupants decried the government’s prioritization of commercial and business ventures instead of housing projects for the poor despite ongoing negotiations between the agencies and the community.
“Pushing through with the demolition will only add to the number of homeless.”
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com TIMES ST. Quezon City — Carolina Batarina’s husband left her to fend for their five children a few years ago. Since then, she has been raising their children on her own, trying to make ends meet with the meager income she earns from renting a few rooms in her…
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com MANILA — Residents of Sitio San Roque in Quezon City remain vigilant even after Mayor Herbert Bautista have extended the deadline for the demolition of their homes. “It is hard to be poor because we are always neglected by our government,” Pilar Angeles, 82, more commonly known as Nanay…