06/02/2009 | 11:46 PM
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
A case study of the Metro Manila railway project in the Philippines (by Narae Choi)
MPhil.Thesis_Narae.Choi -
This thesis was submitted for the Degree of Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) in Development Studies at the University of Oxford. Since it has yet to be published, I recommend strongly that you contact Narae Choi at nal_go@hanmail.net before citing it.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
1 hurt as tension grips demolition in Taguig
Calcutta, Dhaka and the Poor
Calcutta, Dhaka and the Poor
by Denis Murphy
Saturday, 02 May 2009
There have been huge changes in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and Dhaka, though the symbols of poverty remain: the rickshaws, pavement people, forlorn beggars and vast stretches of slums.
In Dhaka I came upon an old woman and a baby squatting by the side of the path. The woman was bent over the baby and had it wrapped in her faded red sari. They looked inconsequential, the two of them, like a bag of old leaves you could pick up and walk off with easily. There was no tin cup for begging, and they weren't there the next day. I watched a line of rickshaw drivers pass by. In Dhaka the rickshaw is pulled by bicycle power. The drivers were all small, dark and looked as if they had just been condemned to death. They work on average 12 hours a day in traffic so chaotic it makes Manila's look genteel.
In Howrah, Calcutta's sister city, we met a group of outcaste people-scavengers, sweepers, garbage men-who live near a giant garbage dump. We talked about their eviction: the High Court had ordered the outcastes be removed because of the pollution caused by the dump. About a hundred men stood around us talking while clouds of flies landed on their hands and faces. No one moved to brush away the flies, even from the faces of the babies that some of the men held.
The danger for visitors in seeing such poverty is that we may believe we are dealing with people who are somehow less than human, who only think of food and have no hope in life, or pride in their culture and history. We may believe they are unable to work in organized ways to change their situation, and that they have no sense of justice and human dignity. I was lucky enough in Calcutta and Dhaka to have friends who allowed me to understand a little more about these poor men and women.
In Dhaka I was able to talk to six Bengali Muslim women working with an NGO called Shelter for the Poor. They were organizing the slumdwellers of Dhaka to get land tenure security for their families. According to the United Nations' Habitat such security of tenure or freedom from eviction is a necessary pre-condition for urban development. The women said other NGOs offered water, light and health programs which were good, but if there were evictions, they would lose all those good things. "Land, land," they said, "that's what we need."
All six had taken part in protests against evictions. In one protest rally 100,000 persons employed a Mahatma Gandhi-like method by sitting down in one of the main intersections of the city. The police beat the protesters. Two of the six women showed the welts left by the policemen's lathi canes across their shoulders and legs. This was several years after the event. The women were thoughtful, funny and seemed to enjoy one another. Heh, I said to myself, these are not the fatalistic stereotypes we imagine the Dhaka poor to be.
The outcastes of Howrah said they had already taken a petition to the High Court signed by 250 of their 400 families. They wanted the Court to explain why it ordered them removed and the garbage left untouched. They will not go to their Member of Parliament who they found cared nothing about them; but they will see the mayor and if they get no explanations, the leader said, "We will fight under the banner of our organization." I was told their organization was a national federation of outcaste people. "We will rally and send petitions and keep after the government till they talk to us."
"We have lived here 70 years," they said. "We have city water pipes and two schools and 200 - 300 of our children go to school. We want a space in this world. We need it more than the garbage dump does." Such is not the talk of fatalists.
I think if we were able to go deeper in our relationship we would appreciate how much they love their children, their Muslim beliefs and have hope in India and Bangladesh.
Traditional culture is very much alive. At an anniversary celebration in a rural village a 45-minute drive from Calcutta, poor women recited the 100-year-old poems of Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali poet who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Both Calcutta and Dhaka are parts of historic Bengal. A seven-year old girl performed classic thousand-year-old Indian dances later in the program.
It would definitely help human solidarity in Manila if the well-off could come to know the poor a little better than they do. Ignorance of one another creates stereotypes that have little to do with reality, but set people against each other.
If we know the poor people of Tondo, Payatas or the esteros, we'll marvel at their determined efforts to raise their families. In crowded huts with leaky roofs, and the smell of the garbage pile never far away; with so little food each day that the children cry for more till the mother has to slap them to make them stop, with no place to escape from the noise and crowds and the demands and threats of the world, they keep at it day in, day out, working and nurturing, hoping their children will be better off than themselves. Looked at it this way, their lives are gallant. They believe deeply in God. The slums are abrim with love; they are special places of love, not the urban jungles some people talk about.
Denis Murphy works with the Urban Poor Associates. His e-mail address is upa@pldtdsl.net
http://www.thepoc.net/index.php/Parokya-Sa-Web/Tinig-ng-Maralita/Calcutta-Dhaka-and-the-Poor.html
Friday, May 08, 2009
Mangyans of Paitan, then and now
Commentary : Mangyans of Paitan, then and now
By Denis Murphy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: May 06, 2009
My wife and I were at the graduation Mass in the Mangyan Mission in Paitan, Mindoro Oriental, just before Holy Week. It was our first visit there in 35 years. When I looked to see whose hand I would hold as we prayed the “Our Father,” I saw three beautiful Mangyan children, three little girls, looking at me, their eyes bright with intelligence and curiosity. While her companions giggled, the girl next to me reached up her hand shyly and we said the prayer. When it was over, she thanked me.
It dawned on me as the Mass went on and I followed the little girls up to Communion that a culture that could produce such lovely children surely had the wisdom and inner resources to prosper in the modern world, with a little help from its friends. There were always various signs of cultural strength, but back 35 years ago, many people, even those friendly to the Mangyans, doubted there could be much progress.
It was agreed then that there were three essential realities that had to be in place for the Mangyans to be on the road to prospering: ownership of the land, control of their education system, and strong tribal solidarity—none of which could be had without a long struggle. The Mangyans needed a place of their own from which they could view the outside world at a distance, as it were, and decide what parts of it they should adopt and which to reject. They needed control of their own education to teach them to choose wisely, and they needed unity and trust among themselves, and a determined spirit.
People doubted that the Mangyans had the needed determination and willingness to struggle year after year for these goals. They had no stomach for controversy, people felt. The Mangyans wanted the land, but they refused to face up to the lowlanders invading their land. They were gentle to a fault. When they finally decided to put someone in jail for drinking too much and making noise, they felt so sorry for him that all the barrio officials spent the night in jail to keep him company.
They wanted education, but they took their children out of school to work and allowed their girls to marry very young. As a people, it appeared to many, they lacked confidence in their ability to achieve anything of worth.
When we returned 35 years later, we found the situation totally different. They now have title to the reservation of 200-plus hectares the American officials gave them in the 1920s, and they are completing their claim for ancestral domain, “for the whole mountain,” as one man said. They succeeded in this, we were told, by their tireless, dogged efforts over the years: hundreds of visits to offices in Manila; hundreds of court appearances; endless paper work and refusal to give up, no matter how difficult government officials made the effort. They withstood insults and setbacks. In the end, they got not only land, but they learned how the modern world works and how to deal with it. They became a confident, united people in the process.
They now have their own elementary school where their education graduates teach. They have their award-winning Tugdaan Mangyan Center for Learning and Development, which is under a Mangyan principal and teachers. The students study academic subjects, food processing, herbal medicines and similar subjects, all from a Mangyan perspective. Everyone calls them, “our schools,” “our teachers,” “our food processing.” Girls now marry at an older age.
The students have models in the teachers they see before them and in the Mangyans who built the schools and the furniture. They have their parents at their back saying, “Don’t be like us. Study, and learn the skills you need to earn a living.” They are pulled and pushed to do better.
How could such a change take place in 35 years? Surely we must praise the people who have achieved so much, yet manage to remain as friendly as ever. When an old Mangyan friend greets you after a long separation, you know, what a loving smile can really look like.
Then there are the people who helped: Sr. Magdalena Laykamm, the first of the Holy Spirit Sisters to live in Paitan, who learned the language and who set the nuns’ tradition of seeing the good of the people where others saw little. There was Sr. Victricia Pascasio, a key to the struggle for land; Ben Abadiano, who started the Tugdaan; and the SVD priests, such as Fr. Ewald Dinter, who have given their lives to this tremendously difficult work, walking sometimes 12 hours a day on a handful of rice and soy sauce to reach settlements high in the perpetual fog of the mountain top. Father Dinter is, as missionaries should be, an expert in Scripture and anthropology, and has hundreds of mountain tales.
There are others: Sr. Celerina Zabala and the sisters among the Mangyans today, and the government people who helped.
In the end, however, it is the people who reached deep down in their culture to find the courage, toughness and solidarity needed who must be acknowledged. Their schools and other successes speak of their culture’s values as clearly as the three little girls we prayed with at Mass.
(Denis Murphy works with the Urban Poor Associates. His email address is upa@pldtdsl.net.)
©Copyright 2001-2009 INQUIRER.net, An Inquirer Company
By Denis Murphy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: May 06, 2009
My wife and I were at the graduation Mass in the Mangyan Mission in Paitan, Mindoro Oriental, just before Holy Week. It was our first visit there in 35 years. When I looked to see whose hand I would hold as we prayed the “Our Father,” I saw three beautiful Mangyan children, three little girls, looking at me, their eyes bright with intelligence and curiosity. While her companions giggled, the girl next to me reached up her hand shyly and we said the prayer. When it was over, she thanked me.
It dawned on me as the Mass went on and I followed the little girls up to Communion that a culture that could produce such lovely children surely had the wisdom and inner resources to prosper in the modern world, with a little help from its friends. There were always various signs of cultural strength, but back 35 years ago, many people, even those friendly to the Mangyans, doubted there could be much progress.
It was agreed then that there were three essential realities that had to be in place for the Mangyans to be on the road to prospering: ownership of the land, control of their education system, and strong tribal solidarity—none of which could be had without a long struggle. The Mangyans needed a place of their own from which they could view the outside world at a distance, as it were, and decide what parts of it they should adopt and which to reject. They needed control of their own education to teach them to choose wisely, and they needed unity and trust among themselves, and a determined spirit.
People doubted that the Mangyans had the needed determination and willingness to struggle year after year for these goals. They had no stomach for controversy, people felt. The Mangyans wanted the land, but they refused to face up to the lowlanders invading their land. They were gentle to a fault. When they finally decided to put someone in jail for drinking too much and making noise, they felt so sorry for him that all the barrio officials spent the night in jail to keep him company.
They wanted education, but they took their children out of school to work and allowed their girls to marry very young. As a people, it appeared to many, they lacked confidence in their ability to achieve anything of worth.
When we returned 35 years later, we found the situation totally different. They now have title to the reservation of 200-plus hectares the American officials gave them in the 1920s, and they are completing their claim for ancestral domain, “for the whole mountain,” as one man said. They succeeded in this, we were told, by their tireless, dogged efforts over the years: hundreds of visits to offices in Manila; hundreds of court appearances; endless paper work and refusal to give up, no matter how difficult government officials made the effort. They withstood insults and setbacks. In the end, they got not only land, but they learned how the modern world works and how to deal with it. They became a confident, united people in the process.
They now have their own elementary school where their education graduates teach. They have their award-winning Tugdaan Mangyan Center for Learning and Development, which is under a Mangyan principal and teachers. The students study academic subjects, food processing, herbal medicines and similar subjects, all from a Mangyan perspective. Everyone calls them, “our schools,” “our teachers,” “our food processing.” Girls now marry at an older age.
The students have models in the teachers they see before them and in the Mangyans who built the schools and the furniture. They have their parents at their back saying, “Don’t be like us. Study, and learn the skills you need to earn a living.” They are pulled and pushed to do better.
How could such a change take place in 35 years? Surely we must praise the people who have achieved so much, yet manage to remain as friendly as ever. When an old Mangyan friend greets you after a long separation, you know, what a loving smile can really look like.
Then there are the people who helped: Sr. Magdalena Laykamm, the first of the Holy Spirit Sisters to live in Paitan, who learned the language and who set the nuns’ tradition of seeing the good of the people where others saw little. There was Sr. Victricia Pascasio, a key to the struggle for land; Ben Abadiano, who started the Tugdaan; and the SVD priests, such as Fr. Ewald Dinter, who have given their lives to this tremendously difficult work, walking sometimes 12 hours a day on a handful of rice and soy sauce to reach settlements high in the perpetual fog of the mountain top. Father Dinter is, as missionaries should be, an expert in Scripture and anthropology, and has hundreds of mountain tales.
There are others: Sr. Celerina Zabala and the sisters among the Mangyans today, and the government people who helped.
In the end, however, it is the people who reached deep down in their culture to find the courage, toughness and solidarity needed who must be acknowledged. Their schools and other successes speak of their culture’s values as clearly as the three little girls we prayed with at Mass.
(Denis Murphy works with the Urban Poor Associates. His email address is upa@pldtdsl.net.)
©Copyright 2001-2009 INQUIRER.net, An Inquirer Company
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
A Matter of Courage
A Matter of Courage
by Denis Murphy
Development of the urban poor of our big cities requires them to have the courage of warriors. It is usually the women who provide it.
In a Tondo barangay, poor women are threatened with violence simply because they want to bring legal water services into their community. The women want the legal water (Maynilad or Manila Water) because it is four to seven times cheaper than the water they buy now, which is often controlled by mafia types. Women are threatened over the water issue even in a barangay that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo visited and where she supported the people's efforts to get Maynilad by committing P7 million of the local congressman's development funds.
The threats can be alarming. In one barangay, a young woman community organizer received the following message: "Ginugulo nyo kami dito sa lugar namin baka imbes na tubig ay dugo ang umagos dito. Tigilan nyo na kami!" (Stop messing with our community or blood will be shed instead of water).
The threats are often from the kagawads and barangay hangers-on, the women say. They know these men and their families. It is a very emotional situation that easily leads to violence. In the area the president visited, 500 women are now dropping out of the water scheme she supported, because they have been threatened with violence if they continue.
Despite the threats, 40 women in the North Harbor gathered P15,000 and brought Maynilad water into the area, which will save each of them P500-P900 pesos a month. Families who buy water from these women will pay only a little more than the 40 women who invested in the mother meter. They, too, will have big savings. In these days of economic hardship, P500 or more a month is a godsend: perhaps the difference between a healthy child and a malnourished one.
In the beginning, only a few women displayed the courage needed, but courage is catching and the example of a few can create a brave community.
Just when the 40 women had the water problem licked, the Metro Manila Development Authority and the Department of Public Works and Highways came along to tell them they will be evicted, though no relocation will be provided. It took courage to struggle for water; they must now gather up the same courage to resist the eviction.
Such evictions were condemned as illegal by Chairperson Leila de Lima of the Commission on Human Rights. In a CHR Resolution of November 6, 2008 she ordered the MMDA, local governments and national government agencies to stop conducting evictions and demolitions of structures used for dwelling purposes unless the families are relocated according to law.
The Pope's Justice and Peace Commission offers what should be a starting point in our thinking on the urban poor, squatting and eviction: "Any person or family that, without any direct fault on his or her part, does not have suitable housing is the victim of an injustice" (1988). The poor are in the slums as a result of injustice. Evicting them and leaving them homeless compounds the injustice.
The women met the 100-plus-man demolition team of MMDA and waved the CHR order in front of them. The demolition chief talked to them for a short while, then the demolition began. Now the women will go to the mayor. At every step they are warned that they can be hurt or they can "wind up with nothing." Fear is deep in the people. In Navotas, people who have been evicted but are living alongside the demolition area, say every time they see a blue MMDA vehicle they hold onto their children in fear.
It is not just about water or other items. Resistance is the poor's way to assert that they are free persons who want to live in dignity and security. We are not charity cases or useless people. We are not here to be manipulated or humiliated. We work hard and we have the same hopes as all men and women, they say.
Poor men and women find courage deep in their hearts to do all they can about the ills that threaten their world. Can we say as much about the rest of society?
http://www.thepoc.net/index.php/Parokya-Sa-Web/Tinig-ng-Maralita/A-Matter-of-Courage.html
Thursday, April 16, 2009
7 hurt in Las Piñas demolition
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Commentary : ‘Kalbaryo’
Commentary : ‘Kalbaryo’
By Denis Murphy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: April 08, 2009
FOR 23 years the urban poor have attempted in their annual “Kalbaryo” to understand how the sufferings and death of Jesus are repeated in the sufferings of the poor and how his resurrection is repeated in the efforts of the poor to free themselves from poverty.
In 1987 the first Kalbaryo was held on Smokey Mountain when it was still an active dumpsite. Scavengers were working under clouds of flies, though it was Good Friday. It was steaming hot and the smell was that of a battlefield of rotting corpses. Smokey Mountain was the symbol of the country’s poverty, so it was appropriate that Kalbaryo be held there.
The actors playing Jesus, Mary, the Holy Women and the Roman soldiers climbed through the garbage to the top and there re-enacted the crucifixion. I watched the scavengers. Some were kneeling.
There were thousands of people at the bottom of the hill, and then at the last moment the Centurion, played by a young woman, Tata Lacson, prostrated herself on the garbage.
The crowd gasped and then was silent, as if they had somehow understood. From the beginning the Kalbaryo has used drama, songs and dance to try to grasp this mystery of identification with Jesus in his death and resurrection. Art is often a better teacher than textbooks.
Another year the Kalbaryo started in Leveriza with the Alay Kapwa group of Sr. Christine Tan, and then went to several other urban poor areas. By the late 1980s and early 1990s the Kalbaryo had become a very professional dance that took place at high noon in Mendiola. The dancers wore Christ masks that pictured Jesus deep in pain and disappointment.
In the script the same words were used by Pilate to condemn Jesus and the Manila authorities to condemn the urban poor: both were called “trouble makers, malcontents, opportunists, outsiders.” There was absolute silence, though thousands were present. Only the buzz sound of the motorized camera shutters was heard. Policemen took off their hats and came nearer to see and hear more clearly.
Some years only a hundred or so people participated. Another year a group planned to sing the “Pabasa” all night in Quezon Memorial Circle Park as part of the Kalbaryo. There was a call late at night that the organizer of the singing was all alone in the dark of the Circle. When the other women got there they found her singing away bravely. She was delighted to see the other women, because once the Pabasa is started it shouldn’t be interrupted and she had been afraid she’d be alone till dawn with just the cats and dogs of the Circle.
Another year the Kalbaryo was held in the Cabuyao relocation center. Some 5,000 or so families had just moved in; they had been evicted from Makati, San Andres and other places along the railroad tracks. They had no light, drinking water, school, market, clinic or jobs. Their income had dropped by 20 percent. Next to the relocated people was another garbage dump, which when it rained heavily sent a black toxic liquid from the dumpsite into the people’s homes.
About 1,000 people followed the priest through the Stations. We came to the foot of the garbage dump where the death of Jesus was enacted. We couldn’t go further because the people were not allowed on the dump. The dead Jesus wearing a bloody mask and robe was carried into a nearby house for his burial. He was freshened up; the mask was removed and he was dressed in shining white clothes. When he re-appeared, resurrected and smiling as any young man might smile after a great victory, the people cheered. It’s easy to believe they saw a connection between Jesus’ victory over pain and death, and their efforts to improve their very bad situation.
In the next few years the overall situation did improve thanks to the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, the National Housing Authority, the local mayors and barangay captains, but mainly because of the people who demanded improvements and cooperated with government when it sought to help. These were the same people who celebrated the Kalbaryo.
Last April 1 the urban poor once again marched with Jesus in triumph on a horse from Liwasang Bonifacio to Plaza Miranda accompanied by a 30-foot cross and crowds celebrating as they did on his entry into Jerusalem. There was a program of song, dance and drama in Plaza Miranda, interpreting certain Stations, such as Simon of Cyrene and Veronica’s veil. There was a reading of the Charter of the Poor which contains the issues the poor believe must be agreed upon with the government and civil society. They include a ban on forced evictions without good relocation, land tenure security, basic services for all, decent houses, jobs and food.
Finally Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales said Mass in Quiapo Church, with other priests and bishops.
Denis Murphy works with the Urban Poor Associates. His e-mail address is upa@pldtdsl.net.
By Denis Murphy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: April 08, 2009
FOR 23 years the urban poor have attempted in their annual “Kalbaryo” to understand how the sufferings and death of Jesus are repeated in the sufferings of the poor and how his resurrection is repeated in the efforts of the poor to free themselves from poverty.
In 1987 the first Kalbaryo was held on Smokey Mountain when it was still an active dumpsite. Scavengers were working under clouds of flies, though it was Good Friday. It was steaming hot and the smell was that of a battlefield of rotting corpses. Smokey Mountain was the symbol of the country’s poverty, so it was appropriate that Kalbaryo be held there.
The actors playing Jesus, Mary, the Holy Women and the Roman soldiers climbed through the garbage to the top and there re-enacted the crucifixion. I watched the scavengers. Some were kneeling.
There were thousands of people at the bottom of the hill, and then at the last moment the Centurion, played by a young woman, Tata Lacson, prostrated herself on the garbage.
The crowd gasped and then was silent, as if they had somehow understood. From the beginning the Kalbaryo has used drama, songs and dance to try to grasp this mystery of identification with Jesus in his death and resurrection. Art is often a better teacher than textbooks.
Another year the Kalbaryo started in Leveriza with the Alay Kapwa group of Sr. Christine Tan, and then went to several other urban poor areas. By the late 1980s and early 1990s the Kalbaryo had become a very professional dance that took place at high noon in Mendiola. The dancers wore Christ masks that pictured Jesus deep in pain and disappointment.
In the script the same words were used by Pilate to condemn Jesus and the Manila authorities to condemn the urban poor: both were called “trouble makers, malcontents, opportunists, outsiders.” There was absolute silence, though thousands were present. Only the buzz sound of the motorized camera shutters was heard. Policemen took off their hats and came nearer to see and hear more clearly.
Some years only a hundred or so people participated. Another year a group planned to sing the “Pabasa” all night in Quezon Memorial Circle Park as part of the Kalbaryo. There was a call late at night that the organizer of the singing was all alone in the dark of the Circle. When the other women got there they found her singing away bravely. She was delighted to see the other women, because once the Pabasa is started it shouldn’t be interrupted and she had been afraid she’d be alone till dawn with just the cats and dogs of the Circle.
Another year the Kalbaryo was held in the Cabuyao relocation center. Some 5,000 or so families had just moved in; they had been evicted from Makati, San Andres and other places along the railroad tracks. They had no light, drinking water, school, market, clinic or jobs. Their income had dropped by 20 percent. Next to the relocated people was another garbage dump, which when it rained heavily sent a black toxic liquid from the dumpsite into the people’s homes.
About 1,000 people followed the priest through the Stations. We came to the foot of the garbage dump where the death of Jesus was enacted. We couldn’t go further because the people were not allowed on the dump. The dead Jesus wearing a bloody mask and robe was carried into a nearby house for his burial. He was freshened up; the mask was removed and he was dressed in shining white clothes. When he re-appeared, resurrected and smiling as any young man might smile after a great victory, the people cheered. It’s easy to believe they saw a connection between Jesus’ victory over pain and death, and their efforts to improve their very bad situation.
In the next few years the overall situation did improve thanks to the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, the National Housing Authority, the local mayors and barangay captains, but mainly because of the people who demanded improvements and cooperated with government when it sought to help. These were the same people who celebrated the Kalbaryo.
Last April 1 the urban poor once again marched with Jesus in triumph on a horse from Liwasang Bonifacio to Plaza Miranda accompanied by a 30-foot cross and crowds celebrating as they did on his entry into Jerusalem. There was a program of song, dance and drama in Plaza Miranda, interpreting certain Stations, such as Simon of Cyrene and Veronica’s veil. There was a reading of the Charter of the Poor which contains the issues the poor believe must be agreed upon with the government and civil society. They include a ban on forced evictions without good relocation, land tenure security, basic services for all, decent houses, jobs and food.
Finally Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales said Mass in Quiapo Church, with other priests and bishops.
Denis Murphy works with the Urban Poor Associates. His e-mail address is upa@pldtdsl.net.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
MEDIA ADVISORY: KALBARYO OF THE URBAN POOR
Attention: News Editor, News Desk, Reporters and Photojournalists
MEDIA ADVISORY
KALBARYO OF THE URBAN POOR
April 1, 2009
Photo ops at Liwasang Bonifacio (10:00 -11:00 AM)
· Jesus on a horse
· Palm waving crowds as he enters Jerusalem
· Giant cross, requires 25 men to carry it.
· Dancers (Palaspas Dance)
March (11:00 -12:00)
· Crowd of 3,000, led by Jesus mounted, palm waving crowds, 30-foot cross, and Palaspas dancers moves toward Plaza Miranda.
Plaza Miranda (1:00 PM)
· Re-enactment in song and dance of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection.
· Reading of the Urban Poor Charter – needs and demand of the poor
· Individual prayer and the cross
· Voices of the poor
Quiapo Church (3:00 PM)
· Mass with Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales and other priests and bishops. The Cardinal will speak on the poor and the Church. (See History of Kalbaryo)
The Kalbaryo of the Urban Poor
** NEWS RELEASE *** NEWS RELEASE *** NEWS RELEASE **
The Kalbaryo of the Urban Poor
The Kalbaryo of the Urban Poor started in 1987. Over the years it has taken place in different places: in Leveriza; on top of the old Smokey Mountain; in the Cabuyao relocation area; in urban poor areas along the Pasig River; but most often in Mendiola.
The Kalbaryo has tried to show that God has a “preferential” love of the poor and also that the sufferings of Jesus Christ in his passion and death are repeated in the sufferings of the urban poor. Also, that Jesus’ resurrection is repeated in an initial way in the actions of the poor to organize themselves and seek non violent democratic solutions to their problems, such as forced evictions, hunger, joblessness, substandard housing, over-expensive water and light, poor schools, criminality, corruption and violence.
Sometimes 5,000 people joined the Kalbaryo, sometimes only 150. Sometimes the mainstay of Kalbaryo was near professional and dramatic dancing in which the dancers wore Christ-mask. Sometimes the Kalbaryo followed the traditional Stations of the Cross.
Once it was a dramatic re-enactment of the passion and death on the top of Smokey Mountain when it was still an active dumpsite. Scavengers were working in the garbage under clouds of flies though it was Good Friday. It was April so it was steaming hot; the smell was that of a battlefield of rotting corpses. Smokey Mountain then was the symbol of the country’s poverty so it was appropriate that the Kalbaryo be held there. The actor playing Jesus, Mary, the Holy Women and the Centurion and Roman soldiers climbed through the garbage to the top, re-enacted the crucifixion and then prostrated themselves on the garbage. Calvary was re-enacted on a garbage pile where dozens of other innocent lives were wasted everyday through disease and malnutrition.
Another year the Kalbaryo started in Leveriza with the Alay Kapwa group of Sr. Christine Tan, and then went to several other urban poor areas. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the Kalbaryo had become a very professional dance that took place at high noon in Mendiola. The dancers wore Christ masks. In the script the same words were used by Pilate to condemn Jesus and the Manila authorities to condemn the poor. Both were called “trouble makers, malcontents, opportunists, outsiders.” The dance was so moving there was absolute silence though thousands were present. The only sound was the continuous buzz of the camera shutters. Policemen took off their hats and came nearer to see and hear better.
Once a group planned to sing the Pabasa all night in Quezon Memorial Circle Park as part of the Kalbaryo.
Another year the Kalbaryo was held in the Cabuyao relocation center. Some 5,000 or so families had just moved in; they had been evicted from Makati, San Andres and other places along the railroad tracks. They had no light, drinking water, school, market, clinic or jobs. Their income had dropped by 20%. Next to the relocated people was another garbage dump, which when it rained heavily sent a black toxic liquid from the dumpsite into the people’s homes.
The people were not allowed on the dumpsite. The crucifixion was re-enacted, and Jesus wearing a bloody mask and robe carried into nearby house for his “burial”. He was freshened up; the mask was removed; he was shining in white clothes. When he re-appeared, resurrected, smiling as a young man might smile after a great victor, the people cheered. It’s easy to believe they saw a connection between Jesus’ victory over pain and death, and their own efforts to improve their very bad situation.
On April 1 the urban poor will once again march (from Liwasang Bonifacio to Plaza Miranda) with Jesus in triumph on a horse and the crowds celebrating as they did on his entry into Jerusalem.
At today’s Kalbaryo the passion and resurrection will be again re-enacted in song and dance directed by Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA). All the dancers and singers are urban poor people.
There will be a reading of the Charter of the Urban Poor which calls on civil society and the government to solve some of the problems: policies on evictions, for example, land tenure security, basic services for all, decent houses, jobs and food. The poor want to participate in the decisions that affect their lives.
Mass with Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales and other priests and bishops will be in the Quiapo Church.
People will be asked to sign their names to show support of the suggestions made in the Charter.
They are also asked to write their dearest wish on a “stick em” and paste it to the giant cross.
All are invited.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Urban Poor To Celebrate “Kalbaryo” with Cardinal Rosales
** NEWS RELEASE *** NEWS RELEASE *** NEWS RELEASE **
Urban Poor To Celebrate “Kalbaryo” with Cardinal Rosales
31 March 2009. In observance of the Lenten season, some 3,000 urban poor people from all over Metro Manila will march on April 1 towards Quiapo Church.
The urban poor are celebrating their 23rd “Kalbaryo ng Maralitang Tagalungsod” with the theme “Time for Change”.
Mass with Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales and other priests and bishops will be held in the Quiapo Church at 3:00 PM.
The passion and resurrection will be re-enacted in song and dance, directed by Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA). All the dancers and singers are urban poor people.
Michael Sta. Rosa, who will be Jesus in the march, has been practicing for several days in preparation for his role.
The 26-year-old Sta. Rosa will ride on a horse from Liwasang Bonifacio to Plaza Miranda.
He is worried about the horse he is going to ride in the Palaspas reenactment, the story about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before his Passion. “Wala pang practice. Ngayon pa lang ako sasakay ng kabayo. Ngayon lang magiging Kristo,” Sta. Rosa explained.
Sta. Rosa said he used to watch “Senakulo” in the past but he finds the “Kalbaryo” unusual because the verses talk about urban poor issues in addition to the Senakulo verses.
He said it’s okay and he is happy that he was chosen to play the role although he also feels uneasy as he commits mistakes. “Ayos lang, happy. Masyadong kinakabahan. Minsan nagkakamali sa pagbigkas.”
Sta. Rosa will read the Charter of the Urban Poor which contains the issues the poor think must be agreed upon with the government and civil society: policies on evictions, for example, land tenure security, basic services for all, decent houses, jobs and food.
The Charter was composed by hundreds of community leaders, with the help of several NGOs, such as, Urban Poor Associates (UPA), Community Organizers Multiversity (COM) and Community Organization of the Philippine Enterprise (COPE).
The Kalbaryo of the Urban Poor started in 1987. Over the years it has taken place in different places: in Leveriza; on top of the old Smokey Mountain; in the Cabuyao relocation area; in urban poor areas along the Pasig River; but most often in Mendiola.
According to Alicia Murphy, UPA field coordinator, “Kalbaryo” started due to the looming problems of urban poverty. “Ang problema kasi ng maralita ay mukhang di nababago. At lalong lumalala, napakadaming mga demolisyon etc. So kailangang I-highlight yung kanilang mga karaingan. Lalong-lalo na napakapangit kasi ng public image ng maralitang tagalungsod, minsan hindi naiinatindihan ng madla kaya kahit na meron ng ginagawang pang-aabuso sa kanila, violation of human rights, hindi naiintindihan ng publiko.”
“Kaya ang ginawa, siguro kailangang magsama-sama ang mga maralita para ipahayag kung ano ang kanilang kalagayan at kung ano ang kanilang mga pinapangarap sa buhay. Yung pinaka pangarap nila ay magkaroon ng kahit isang munting tahanan na mabubuhay ng marangal ang kanilang pamilya. At saka rin para magkaroon ng pagbabago yung imahe nila, na hindi sila yung pampabigat sa pamahalaan, na sila ay kuta ng mga magnanakaw, na wala silang silbi, mga ganoon. Dahil sila ay nagsisikap na maging mabuting tao. Karamihan sa kanila ay ganyan,” Ms. Murphy added.
The Kalbaryo has tried to show that God has a “preferential” love of the poor and also that the sufferings of Jesus Christ in his passion and death are repeated in the sufferings of the urban poor. Also, that Jesus’ resurrection is repeated in an initial way in the actions of the poor to organize themselves and seek non violent democratic solutions to their problems, such as forced evictions, hunger, joblessness, substandard housing, over-expensive water and light, poor schools, criminality, corruption and violence.
“Karamihan, halos lahat naman ng mga nasa urban poor areas ay mga Kristiyano lahat iyan. At naniniwala sila sa kapangyarihan ng Panginoon na matulungan sila. Ang kanila ngang mungkahi ay ikino-connect nila ang paghihirap nila sa paghihirap ni Kristo. Na habang sila ay inaapi, habang sila ay hindi naiintindihan, kasama nila si Kristo na naghihirap. Habang walang pagbabago sa mundo, walang pagbabago lalong lalo na sa mga dukha, patuloy na pinahihirapan natin si Kristo,” Ms. Murphy explained.
-30-
Monday, March 23, 2009
Media Advisory - Kalbaryo ng Maralitang Tagalungsod 2009
Attention: News Editor, News Desk, Reporters and Photojournalists
MEDIA ADVISORY
Kalbaryo ng Maralitang Tagalungsod
In observance of the Lenten season, the urban poor are celebrating their 23rd Kalbaryo ng Maralitang Tagalungsod on Wednesday (April 1, 2009) with the theme “Time for Change”.
Some 3,000 or more urban poor people and others from all over Metro Manila are expected to gather at Liwasang Bonifacio beginning at 10:00 AM.
Around 11:00 AM, the urban poor will march (from Liwasang Bonifacio to Plaza Miranda) with Jesus in triumph on a horse, and the crowds celebrating as they did on his entry into Jerusalem.
There will be a program of song, dance and contemporary drama at 1:00 PM, and a reading of the Charter of the Urban Poor which contains the issues the poor think must be agreed upon with the government and civil society: policies on evictions, for example, land tenure security, basic services for all, decent houses, jobs and food.
Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila will say Mass at 3:00 PM in Quiapo Church with other priest and bishops. Mayor Alfredo Lim is also expected to attend the Mass.
“Kalbaryo” shows that the sufferings and death of Jesus on his journey to Calvary are repeated in the sufferings of the poor, and his resurrection is repeated in the efforts of the poor to free themselves from poverty.
Photo ops: During the procession, urban poor will carry a cross measuring 30 feet. The Last Supper, Palm Sunday, Via Crucis, Scourging at the Pillar, Crucifixion and the Resurrection will be reenacted by urban poor dancers, singers and actors with street plays.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Speech delivered by Atty Leila de Lima, CHR Chairperson, on the Forum on Right to Adequate Housing (March 10, 2009)
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Speech on the occasion of the Shadow Report on the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Quezon City, Philippines
10 March 2009
delivered by
LEILA M. DE LIMA
Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines
Good morning.
The opportunity for the Commission on Human Rights to appear before the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights November of last year is what we hope to look back upon as the seminal moment in our common quest to promote and protect housing rights in the context of the State's international obligations under the UNCESR. There had never been another National Human Rights Commission invited to speak before the Committee. To be the first, I had been told, places the efforts of the Philippine human rights community on the struggle to uphold housing-related rights within the consciousness of the members of the Committee.
To be invited bears two contrasting distinctions. First, our country as one among many with severely impaired housing rights. To be invited lends to the idea that we share in the ignominious reputation of being a country that struggles to deliver to our people the right to adequate housing and security of tenure. Yet, the second distinction reveals that the Committee has recognized and taken up a fascination with the efforts of the CHR and the local human rights community in the field of housing-related rights. Their interest in the progress of the promotion and protection of these rights is a prelude that no other country investigated by the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing ever had – an initial audience with the Committee. It seems that we have gained not only a notoriety for our government’s inadequacies in promoting these rights on one hand, but a reputation as well of having strong civic consciousness in overcoming these inadequacies on the other hand.
OMNIBUS RESOLUTION
During our audience with the Committee, we had had the opportunity to report on the major advances made over the recent months since the start of the Fourth Commission. The CHR November 6, 2008 Omnibus Resolution calling for a moratorium on forced evictions and demolitions was presented to the Committee remains our hopeful first step in the field of adequate housing. The report on the Resolution elicited much praise from some members of the Committee and stood as an assurance that the human rights community of the Philippines has not wilted by the wayside despite the weaknesses of our institutions.
Perhaps to our international partners, the Omnibus Resolution in itself would have been monumental in itself, considering that in the context of developed nations, such an issuance would have the coercive force necessary to secure the right to adequate housing. The strength of government institutions, however, is the normal pre-requisite to the effectiveness of such an issuance. Before all of us present here today, there is no illusion however. The call for a moratorium is only a spectre, until the local governments draft guidelines governing the conduct of forced evictions and demolitions. Such guidelines must be within the parameters set by statute, particularly the Urban Housing and Development Act (UDHA). Without the appropriate, corresponding action from the local governments, we will continue to object to future forced evictions or illegal demolitions, just as we always have.
Yet, continually objecting to forced evictions and demolitions is not the progress we seek. We have been moored to this for several years now. A careful reading of the Omnibus Resolution reveals that the goal is not to secure a blanket moratorium. Preventing demolitions is not the end-goal of protecting and promoting the right to housing. To stop at a moratorium is to settle for the less-than-dignified conditions that many of the poor live in. The moratorium itself is only an intermediate step. What remains significantly more important is to secure the commitment of both local governments and the national government to abide by the pre-requisites to valid evictions – namely, the duty to conduct a census of all beneficiaries of a low-cost housing program, to allocate land for the purpose of relocation, to devise affordable means for the poor to obtain security over the land allotted to them, and to provide the necessary infrastructure to relocation sites making them habitable, among other duties.
The recent efforts of certain local governments to abide by the Omnibus Resolution by way of local ordinances reveals the shortfall of our institutions. To enforce the moratorium without defining a concrete timetable for the local governments to fulfill their subsequent duties on housing defeats the purpose of the law and the Omnibus Resolution. We must now center our efforts on this shortfall. We cannot accept a moratorium that only perpetuates the decrepit conditions of urban poor settlements. It must be a moratorium with the end goal of decent and habitable housing in mind.
INVITATION OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR
One of the next logical steps to be taken in relation to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is the invitation of National Government to the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing. We had seen the effect of the issuance of the Report of the Special Rapporteur on Arbitrary and Summary Killings and Executions. The stinging report of Professor Philip Alston had led to the mobilization of all concerned components of the Government bureaucracy and has made a heavy impact on the threat of Extralegal Killings and Enforced Disappearances. The success, however, of this mobilization is the subject of another lengthy reflection, which I will not discuss here today.
Needless to say, to continue to engage the international community on the issue of adequate housing is one of the surest methods by which we can force government compliance. The monstrous task of relocating millions of urban poor in Metro Manila alone requires more than just a hopeful prayer that the State will come around and make housing and the security of tenure a priority. We must continue to generate enormous pressure on government that is equal to the enormity of the housing challenges we face. One of our strongest allies in human rights protection is the international community.
At the moment, the visit by the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing cannot materialize without the action of the President and the Department of Foreign Affairs. This is where we must now place another set of cross-hairs. All our efforts to generate support from the local governments and Congress will be served by the force-multiplier that the international community can bring to the table. We have the attention of the Committee. Now is the time for the Committee to have the attention of our National Government.
MMIAC
The creation of the MMIAC by executive order is a shocking development. Not that our goals for adequate housing will be undone by the MMIAC, but that it is extraordinarily belated in its creation, as if to imply that since the passage of the UDHA, or even the creation of the PCUP, the idea that a massive, complex coordination of various agencies and stakeholders had only occurred to us only now. We had always known this. The previous inter-agency collaboration had always been at the heels of evictions and demolitions. However, the critical issue of relocation had always been an afterthought to actual demolitions.
There are, as many of you are well-aware of, grave errors in the formulation of the MMIAC, especially with the primary agency responsible for demolitions sitting as the chair. This is to insinuate that the primary function of the MMIAC is eviction and demolition and not housing. That is why in a letter to the Office of the President, dated 22 December 2008, the CHR expressed objection to the choice of MMDA as the Council’s Chair.
It cannot be underscored enough - adequate allocation of housing is the mandatory pre-requisite of eviction. Adequate housing must supersede eviction. Adequate housing must be the end goal of a temporary moratorium on evictions. While moratorium on demolitions without efforts to provide housing is an empty exercise, demolition without provisions for housing is a blatant violation of law.
This echoes the concern of the Committee that more families are evicted than families who are granted relocation. It has become apparent that our capacity to evict has surpassed our capacity to provide housing. What then should be the primary task of the MMIAC? It is to equitably balance the duty to evict with the duty to provide housing.
The restlessness within the MMIAC should not dissuade us from our participation. We need the cooperation of everyone in this complex task of providing adequte housing for everyone.
PROPOSED CHR CHARTER
The concern of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the vague status of enforceability of housing-related rights will be met by the pending draft bill on the CHR Charter. I invite all of you to share in the excitement we, at the CHR, feel with the looming passage of the charter.
Among the crucial provisions embodied by the proposed charter is the expanded power of the CHR to investigate possible violations of economic, social and cultural rights. Now, by itself, this does not add anything to the scope of investigations covered by the CHR, as we already investigate evictions and forced demolitions. But certainly it adds statutory basis for our investigations.
More importantly, however, is the repercussions that it may have on the justiciability of rights embodied in the UNCESCR. In addition to the expanded power of the CHR to investigate violations of these kinds of rights, Congress is currently ironing out provisions that will give more teeth to the CHR through the grant of certain quasi-judicial powers in aid of the Commission’s investigative mandate. Express and well-defined powers, such as issuance of cease and desist orders and mandatory powers will come a long way in affording concrete remedies to ESCR violations as forced evictions or illegal demolitions. If all goes well, and the possible conflicts with existing laws and jurisdictions resolved, then the justiciability of the Covenant will be without question.
The slow progress or development of jurisprudence on these rights has placed a long shadow over efforts on protection and enforceability of housing-related rights. With an express grant to CHR of expanded powers to investigative not only violations of civil and political rights but ESCR violations, with concomitant auxiliary powers to effectively discharge such mandate, the tipping point is nearing, and a drastic change is coming. The significance of this development, I can barely convey in words.
POSTSCRIPT
No one will disagree that the situation of the urban poor has barely moved forward over the years since the implementation of the UDHA. However, while compliance with statute and the Covenant has been intermittent at best, there is good reason to believe that all our efforts, especially the efforts of civil society involved in the upliftment of informal settlers, are paying off. We have set the stage for our success. While it remains a daunting task to compel the government to consistently implement housing policy, the tools available are known to us.
Against the backdrop of the coming 2010 elections, we can further create an impetus for prospective elective officials to seriously undertake the promise of the UDHA and the UNCESCR. By far, the largest voting bloc in urban areas are the very people who have the largest stake in adequate housing. It is up to all of us to ensure that part of the campaign to push housing reforms includes informing the stakeholders, the communities of informal settlers, that moratorium on evictions is not enough. We must educate communities – to teach them about their right not just to the shanty-dwellings they occupy, but their right to decent, hygienic, habitable, structurally-sound homes. We must teach our clientele that there is no long-term protection in voting for officials who promise not to evict, but impliedly never promise to provide decent shelter either. There is no security in having no title. There is no opportunity to access to substantial wealth without collateral. There is no place to raise a family without a home.
Indeed there is so much to be done – by those present here today, the organizations we represent, by the government and the agencies concerned, and most importantly, much can still be done by the informal settlers themselves to further our cause. Let us not waver now because as many of you have suspected, we are making our mark and we are making progress. Foreign partners have noticed. Media has noticed. The public at large is aware. All it takes is our patient resolve.
Thank you.
Speech on the occasion of the Shadow Report on the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Quezon City, Philippines
10 March 2009
delivered by
LEILA M. DE LIMA
Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines
Good morning.
The opportunity for the Commission on Human Rights to appear before the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights November of last year is what we hope to look back upon as the seminal moment in our common quest to promote and protect housing rights in the context of the State's international obligations under the UNCESR. There had never been another National Human Rights Commission invited to speak before the Committee. To be the first, I had been told, places the efforts of the Philippine human rights community on the struggle to uphold housing-related rights within the consciousness of the members of the Committee.
To be invited bears two contrasting distinctions. First, our country as one among many with severely impaired housing rights. To be invited lends to the idea that we share in the ignominious reputation of being a country that struggles to deliver to our people the right to adequate housing and security of tenure. Yet, the second distinction reveals that the Committee has recognized and taken up a fascination with the efforts of the CHR and the local human rights community in the field of housing-related rights. Their interest in the progress of the promotion and protection of these rights is a prelude that no other country investigated by the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing ever had – an initial audience with the Committee. It seems that we have gained not only a notoriety for our government’s inadequacies in promoting these rights on one hand, but a reputation as well of having strong civic consciousness in overcoming these inadequacies on the other hand.
OMNIBUS RESOLUTION
During our audience with the Committee, we had had the opportunity to report on the major advances made over the recent months since the start of the Fourth Commission. The CHR November 6, 2008 Omnibus Resolution calling for a moratorium on forced evictions and demolitions was presented to the Committee remains our hopeful first step in the field of adequate housing. The report on the Resolution elicited much praise from some members of the Committee and stood as an assurance that the human rights community of the Philippines has not wilted by the wayside despite the weaknesses of our institutions.
Perhaps to our international partners, the Omnibus Resolution in itself would have been monumental in itself, considering that in the context of developed nations, such an issuance would have the coercive force necessary to secure the right to adequate housing. The strength of government institutions, however, is the normal pre-requisite to the effectiveness of such an issuance. Before all of us present here today, there is no illusion however. The call for a moratorium is only a spectre, until the local governments draft guidelines governing the conduct of forced evictions and demolitions. Such guidelines must be within the parameters set by statute, particularly the Urban Housing and Development Act (UDHA). Without the appropriate, corresponding action from the local governments, we will continue to object to future forced evictions or illegal demolitions, just as we always have.
Yet, continually objecting to forced evictions and demolitions is not the progress we seek. We have been moored to this for several years now. A careful reading of the Omnibus Resolution reveals that the goal is not to secure a blanket moratorium. Preventing demolitions is not the end-goal of protecting and promoting the right to housing. To stop at a moratorium is to settle for the less-than-dignified conditions that many of the poor live in. The moratorium itself is only an intermediate step. What remains significantly more important is to secure the commitment of both local governments and the national government to abide by the pre-requisites to valid evictions – namely, the duty to conduct a census of all beneficiaries of a low-cost housing program, to allocate land for the purpose of relocation, to devise affordable means for the poor to obtain security over the land allotted to them, and to provide the necessary infrastructure to relocation sites making them habitable, among other duties.
The recent efforts of certain local governments to abide by the Omnibus Resolution by way of local ordinances reveals the shortfall of our institutions. To enforce the moratorium without defining a concrete timetable for the local governments to fulfill their subsequent duties on housing defeats the purpose of the law and the Omnibus Resolution. We must now center our efforts on this shortfall. We cannot accept a moratorium that only perpetuates the decrepit conditions of urban poor settlements. It must be a moratorium with the end goal of decent and habitable housing in mind.
INVITATION OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR
One of the next logical steps to be taken in relation to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is the invitation of National Government to the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing. We had seen the effect of the issuance of the Report of the Special Rapporteur on Arbitrary and Summary Killings and Executions. The stinging report of Professor Philip Alston had led to the mobilization of all concerned components of the Government bureaucracy and has made a heavy impact on the threat of Extralegal Killings and Enforced Disappearances. The success, however, of this mobilization is the subject of another lengthy reflection, which I will not discuss here today.
Needless to say, to continue to engage the international community on the issue of adequate housing is one of the surest methods by which we can force government compliance. The monstrous task of relocating millions of urban poor in Metro Manila alone requires more than just a hopeful prayer that the State will come around and make housing and the security of tenure a priority. We must continue to generate enormous pressure on government that is equal to the enormity of the housing challenges we face. One of our strongest allies in human rights protection is the international community.
At the moment, the visit by the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing cannot materialize without the action of the President and the Department of Foreign Affairs. This is where we must now place another set of cross-hairs. All our efforts to generate support from the local governments and Congress will be served by the force-multiplier that the international community can bring to the table. We have the attention of the Committee. Now is the time for the Committee to have the attention of our National Government.
MMIAC
The creation of the MMIAC by executive order is a shocking development. Not that our goals for adequate housing will be undone by the MMIAC, but that it is extraordinarily belated in its creation, as if to imply that since the passage of the UDHA, or even the creation of the PCUP, the idea that a massive, complex coordination of various agencies and stakeholders had only occurred to us only now. We had always known this. The previous inter-agency collaboration had always been at the heels of evictions and demolitions. However, the critical issue of relocation had always been an afterthought to actual demolitions.
There are, as many of you are well-aware of, grave errors in the formulation of the MMIAC, especially with the primary agency responsible for demolitions sitting as the chair. This is to insinuate that the primary function of the MMIAC is eviction and demolition and not housing. That is why in a letter to the Office of the President, dated 22 December 2008, the CHR expressed objection to the choice of MMDA as the Council’s Chair.
It cannot be underscored enough - adequate allocation of housing is the mandatory pre-requisite of eviction. Adequate housing must supersede eviction. Adequate housing must be the end goal of a temporary moratorium on evictions. While moratorium on demolitions without efforts to provide housing is an empty exercise, demolition without provisions for housing is a blatant violation of law.
This echoes the concern of the Committee that more families are evicted than families who are granted relocation. It has become apparent that our capacity to evict has surpassed our capacity to provide housing. What then should be the primary task of the MMIAC? It is to equitably balance the duty to evict with the duty to provide housing.
The restlessness within the MMIAC should not dissuade us from our participation. We need the cooperation of everyone in this complex task of providing adequte housing for everyone.
PROPOSED CHR CHARTER
The concern of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the vague status of enforceability of housing-related rights will be met by the pending draft bill on the CHR Charter. I invite all of you to share in the excitement we, at the CHR, feel with the looming passage of the charter.
Among the crucial provisions embodied by the proposed charter is the expanded power of the CHR to investigate possible violations of economic, social and cultural rights. Now, by itself, this does not add anything to the scope of investigations covered by the CHR, as we already investigate evictions and forced demolitions. But certainly it adds statutory basis for our investigations.
More importantly, however, is the repercussions that it may have on the justiciability of rights embodied in the UNCESCR. In addition to the expanded power of the CHR to investigate violations of these kinds of rights, Congress is currently ironing out provisions that will give more teeth to the CHR through the grant of certain quasi-judicial powers in aid of the Commission’s investigative mandate. Express and well-defined powers, such as issuance of cease and desist orders and mandatory powers will come a long way in affording concrete remedies to ESCR violations as forced evictions or illegal demolitions. If all goes well, and the possible conflicts with existing laws and jurisdictions resolved, then the justiciability of the Covenant will be without question.
The slow progress or development of jurisprudence on these rights has placed a long shadow over efforts on protection and enforceability of housing-related rights. With an express grant to CHR of expanded powers to investigative not only violations of civil and political rights but ESCR violations, with concomitant auxiliary powers to effectively discharge such mandate, the tipping point is nearing, and a drastic change is coming. The significance of this development, I can barely convey in words.
POSTSCRIPT
No one will disagree that the situation of the urban poor has barely moved forward over the years since the implementation of the UDHA. However, while compliance with statute and the Covenant has been intermittent at best, there is good reason to believe that all our efforts, especially the efforts of civil society involved in the upliftment of informal settlers, are paying off. We have set the stage for our success. While it remains a daunting task to compel the government to consistently implement housing policy, the tools available are known to us.
Against the backdrop of the coming 2010 elections, we can further create an impetus for prospective elective officials to seriously undertake the promise of the UDHA and the UNCESCR. By far, the largest voting bloc in urban areas are the very people who have the largest stake in adequate housing. It is up to all of us to ensure that part of the campaign to push housing reforms includes informing the stakeholders, the communities of informal settlers, that moratorium on evictions is not enough. We must educate communities – to teach them about their right not just to the shanty-dwellings they occupy, but their right to decent, hygienic, habitable, structurally-sound homes. We must teach our clientele that there is no long-term protection in voting for officials who promise not to evict, but impliedly never promise to provide decent shelter either. There is no security in having no title. There is no opportunity to access to substantial wealth without collateral. There is no place to raise a family without a home.
Indeed there is so much to be done – by those present here today, the organizations we represent, by the government and the agencies concerned, and most importantly, much can still be done by the informal settlers themselves to further our cause. Let us not waver now because as many of you have suspected, we are making our mark and we are making progress. Foreign partners have noticed. Media has noticed. The public at large is aware. All it takes is our patient resolve.
Thank you.
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