Akbayan Party today called on President Aquino to deliver on his promise of signing an executive order calling for a national moratorium on forced demolitions and to create a national framework for in-city, on-site relocation.
Akbayan also launched a national signature campaign to collect support for such measures to address the problems that face informal settler communities. Akbayan Representative Walden Bello called such two measures as the most viable alternatives to the off-site relocation policies in different areas of the country.
“We have to consider the fact that a purely off-site relocation policy has failed. Although it is not a comprehensive national policy, we have seen in Metro Manila that such measure fail for very obvious reasons. Firstly, most of the relocation sites are far from livelihood opportunities and basic services. Second, many of these relocation sites are either poorly built or don’t have any running water or electricity. In the end, most of those who opt to relocate to these far-flung places decide to go back to the city and return as informal settlers,” Bello said.
Bello said the recent tragedies that beset Davao city has revealed that it is often urban poor communities that suffer the most from climate change and other calamities such as earthquakes and fire. The death toll from the recent Davao flashfloods has reached to 30 with at least 15,000 more residents adversely affected by the flashfloods.
“There should be a sense of urgency in addressing the plight of our urban poor who are often forced to live near creeks and rivers thus making them the most vulnerable to any rise in floodwaters. What we witnessed in Davao City may only be a sign of things to come. We should expect more casualties unless we have a proper response to the plight of the informal settlers,” according to Bello.
Allocation of 20% of private development seen as one of solutions
Representative Bello has filed House Bill No. 4022 in Congress that seeks to mandate that all private land developers allot 20% of the total land development for socialized mass housing as relocation for informal settlers.
Bello says this bill will serve as one of the solutions in ensuring accessible housing for the country’s urban poor.
“This is simply one of the measures we have to undertake in order to ensure that housing is provided for all those who need it, specifically for urban poor communities who are often left with no place to relocate after their houses are demolished,” Bello said.
Duterte incident should serve as wakeup call
Bello also weighed in on the recent incident involving Mayor Sara Duterte of Davao City punching a court sheriff executing a demolition order. According to Bello, although the use of violence against another person is wrong and cannot be justified, people should look into the entire context of the incident including the violence inflicted on the informal settlers. He also added that the incident must serve as a wakeup call to the government on the plight of informal settlers in the country.
“Using violence against another person is wrong. However, before we can cast judgment on the incident we have to consider the larger context. We can say inflicting violence is wrong but we also have to recognize that the motive behind it, which is to stand up for those who are weak, is right. The incident should therefore serve as a reminder and even as a wakeup call on the government to consider that demolitions such as those in Davao City will escalate into violence unless a proper and humane program of relocation and housing is crafted to address the needs of the urban poor,” according to Bello.
According to Metro Manila Development Authority studies, more than 560,000 families or an estimated 25% of all Metro Manila residents are informal settlers. Many of these residents are located in areas considered as fire hazards and in areas such as river banks which are vulnerable to flash floods. DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo has already supported moves for a national moratorium on forced demolitions and calls for a proper national policy on in-city, on-site relocations like mass housing of mid-rise tenements.###
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