MEDIA ADVISORY : Protest Rally at the South Korean Embassy in Makati

Attention: News Editor, News Desk, Reporters and Photojournalists

MEDIA ADVISORY

Protest Rally at the South Korean Embassy in Makati

Leaders of communities affected by the Northrail Southrail Linkage Project being funded by the South Korean government will stage a protest rally to be held in the morning of January 25 (Friday).

Housing rights advocates will convene at the grounds of the Pacific Star Building along Makati Avenue where the South Korean Embassy is located.

The people are protesting the refusal of the Embassy to talk with them unless they coordinate with the office of the Vice President Noli de Castro in the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC). The people say they always talk with HUDCC but now want to talk to the Korean government that is funding the railroad project.

We hope that members of the media will cover the event. We wish to assure you that the activity will be peaceful.

Photo ops: Some protesters will be wearing paper house boxes on their heads to show that a roof over people’s head is a human right.

Date: January 25, 2008 (Friday)

Time: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM

Venue: In front of the South Korean Embassy (Pacific Star Building),
Makati Avenue, Makati City

Reporter's Notebook: Northrail

Riles at Relokasyon
Jiggy Manicad

The North Luzon Railway Project is envisioned to bring about a modern rail system that runs from Caloocan in Metro Manila to Clark, Pampanga. The project’s first phase will run from Caloocan to Malolos, Bulacan and is expected to cost P500 million or about P25 billion. This phase is expected to be completed this year but despite funds for the project having already been spent, not even half has been completed. The project has been assailed from the start, with some quarters questioning why it didn’t undergo a bidding. Although the railway project appears to have stalled, the demolition of the shanties of informal settlers who live along the railway lines goes on. The government has spent a billion pesos to transfer these families but complaints have sprung up over the lack of water, power and jobs in the relocation areas. The houses in the relocation areas are said to be of substandard quality. Will questions that hound this project be answered?

Bishop Pabillo, Mayor Cuerpo back railway families’ plea for alternative relocation site

Urban Poor Associates
25-A Mabuhay Street, Brgy. Central, Q.C.
Telefax: 4264118 Tel.: 4264119 / 4267615

http://jlagman17.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlagman17

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Bishop Pabillo, Mayor Cuerpo back railway families’ plea for alternative relocation site

10 September 2007. Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo and Rodriguez Mayor Pedro Cuerpo joined grassroots organizations this morning in a press conference held at the Arzobispado de Manila to demand that the government find alternatives to its policy of relocating poor people to remote sites.

Railway families who are facing imminent threat of evictions due to the Northrail-Southrail Linkage Project press the government to arrange that necessary relocation be to nearby sites like Rodriguez, and no longer to places two or more hours drive outside Metro Manila which is far from their jobs.

Mayor Cuerpo is offering hope to railway families as he has certified that the Municipality of Rodriguez in Rizal is willing to accept families living along the railroad tracks from Sampaloc up to Sta. Cruz, Manila.

Destined to be dumped in distant relocation sites where life is extremely hard, Samahang Apektadong Pamilya sa Riles (SAPAR) have taken initiatives to find alternative relocation sites for some 1,500 families. Despite many appeals the National Housing Authority (NHA) refuses to accept the Montalban relocation site.

The group also expressed admiration for Bishop Pabillo's consistent support for the poor. The chairman of the Philippine bishops' Housing Committee has assailed the soulless eviction of poor families.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has called the attention of the government in its pastoral statements on the homeless (1997) and on the nation’s housing problems (2007) to stop uncaring demolitions as it only put poor families from danger zone to death zone.

The government’s efforts to decongest Metro Manila by relocating poor people to distant places is simply pathetic, according to Urban Poor Associates (UPA), a non-government organization that concentrates on evictions and slum-upgrading.

Results of a survey done by UPA indicated that poor people in distant relocation sites would likely go back to Metro Manila due to the following issues: lack of electricity and potable water, livelihood and job problems, high cost of commodities and transportation, payments of units alloted, problem on security, and poor facilities.

Lawyer Bienvenido Salinas II, coordinator of UPA's legal unit St. Thomas More Law Center said the law requires that families evicted from government land be given decent relocation. “The Constitution clearly stated in its Article XIII (Section 10) that no resettlement of urban poor dwellers should be undertaken without adequate consultation with them and the communities where they are to be relocated.” ###

MEDIA ADVISORY : Bishop Pabillo, Mayor Cuerpo come to the aid of railway families

Hundreds of railway families in Manila who are facing imminent threat of evictions and demolitions due to the Northrail-Southrail Linkage Project have found advocates in Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo and Rodriguez Mayor Pedro Cuerpo who have offered to help in a press conference to be held at the Arzobispado de Manila on September 10, Monday (10:00 AM).

Poor families living along the railroad tracks in Sampaloc will ask the government to take another look at in-city or near-city relocation sites, for example in Rodriguez (Montalban), Rizal.

Destined to be dumped in distant relocation sites where life is extremely hard, grassroots organizations have taken initiatives to find alternative relocation sites.

The Constitution clearly stated in its Article XIII (Section 10) that no resettlement of urban poor dwellers should be undertaken without adequate consultation with them and the communities where they are to be relocated.

Photo ops: A woman in Filipiniana dress will receive a mock-up 100 Million Dollar Cheque as Official Demolition Assistance (ODA) fund from a woman with South Korean costume; Poor people will act out as miserable patients to depict the tragedy brought about by forced evictions and distant relocation.

Date: September 10, 2007 (Monday)

Time: 10:00 AM

Venue: Arzobispado de Manila
121 Arzobispo Street, Intramuros, Manila

For further information, please contact the Urban Poor Associates (UPA) at (632) 4264118 / 4264119 / 4267615.

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VP de Castro tinalakan ng mga iskwater sa Maynila

Eviction looms for railways folk

NHA demolishes houses along South Railway project

1,000 shanties demolished in Manila for NorthRail project

Houses near Sta. Mesa railroad tracks demolished

South Korea concerned on plight of railway dwellers in RP

Urban Poor Associates
25-A Mabuhay Street, Brgy. Central, Q.C.
Telefax: 4264118
Tel.: 4264119 / 4267615

Ref: John Francis Lagman
http://jlagman17.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlagman17

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South Korea concerned on plight of railway dwellers in RP

25 May 2007. Finance and Economy Ministry of South Korea has expressed concerns regarding the relocation of railway dwellers that were affected due to the Northrail-Southrail Linkage Project.

“Our government is well aware of the importance of the issue of relocating local residents in that project, and we emphasize once more that we plan to continually watch to see whether it is being implemented according to international standards,” the Finance and Economy Ministry said in a letter sent to Urban Poor Associates (UPA), a non-government organization that monitors evictions along the railways.

In order to relieve the transportation jam in Metro Manila and at the same time to develop parts of Metro Manila that were becoming slums, South Korea decided in December of 2003 to support the railway project. However it has consistently maintained the position that preparing and implementing adequate relocation for the residents alongside the railway is a precondition for providing support for the project.

“In spite of the continuing Philippine government requests to speed the implementation of the project we have had an international body inspect the conditions of the planning and implementation of the relocation,” the Finance and Economy Ministry said.

In order to monitor whether the relocation is fairly and adequately being carried, South Korea provided the budget for an expert on relocation who belongs to the Asian Development Bank to do a survey on the relocation conditions of the residents displaced by the project, their living conditions in the relocation sites, their degree of satisfaction, and the like.

A second evaluation of the relocation conditions took place last February and following the expert recommendations, South Korea linked the approval of a project purchase contract to provision of a quarterly report on relocation implementation and the possibility of ceasing disbursement of funds in case there would not be adequate and fair relocation.

According to the Finance and Economy Ministry, in the future as well, South Korea will continually monitor whether the railway project is carrying out relocation of the residents adequately according to international standards.

“Our government has already expressed its willingness to support the relocation plan but the Philippine government has not accepted it. If the Philippine government makes a request to support the provision of basic facilities in the relocation settlement we will positively consider it,” the Finance and Economy Ministry said.

“Nevertheless, since credit support is only possible when the receiving country is willing to receive it, at present it is difficult to provide support for the relocation. Our government will in the future also positively consider putting such a support plan on the table at inter-government meetings,” the Finance and Economy Ministry added.

According to UPA, a Philippine petition sent by the Koalisyon ng mga Samahan sa Riles Katimugan (KOSARIKA) was received in South Korea last March. The petition was presented by the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) Korea Committee to South Korean President ROH Moo-Hyun.

The Korean petition requested the President to suspend disbursement of funds for the railway project pending provision of adequate relocation. It mentioned that the World Bank also makes such stipulations, and that the human rights violations are detrimental to Korea’s foreign policy objectives.

On April 18, 2007, Park Mun-Su, a representative of the ACHR Korea Committee visited Mr. Kim Su-Hyun, the Secretary to the President for Social Policy. Mr. Kim arranged for them to meet with Mr. Song Seog-Jun, Assistant Secretary to the President for Civil Petitions & Institutional Innovation.

Mr. Song listened to the account of the terrible conditions suffered by those who have been affected by the railway project. He agreed with the petitioners that the infringement of human rights involved in the project really does counteract the intent of the project to nurture good relations between the two countries. Therefore the situation would seem to call for Korea’s concern over how the project is being implemented. -30-