JLagman17 News Digest

But not exactly poor: 2 million live in slums

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Wed, 14 May 2014 04:20:00 +0000

POVERTY in slum settlements cannot be simply overcome through traditional poverty reduction programs such as cash transfers.

The Philippine government should take regulatory actions that cut cross administrative boundaries, as environmental issues cannot be isolated by geographical and political boundaries, Dr. Marife Ballesteros argued in a book published this month by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

ADB noted that while Southeast and East Asia regions have made major progress in reducing income poverty, living standards for many poor people remain a major challenge due to worsening environmental degradation and increasing vulnerability to climate change.

“Environments of the Poor” was the theme of a conference which the ADB and some 17 development partners organized on 24–26 November 2010 in New Delhi. The papers on Southeast Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific at this conference were revised and edited for this publication.

In her paper Slum Poverty in the Philippines: Can the Environment Agenda Drive Public Action?, Dr. Ballesteros described the demographics of Metro Manila which is home to about 2 million slum dwellers or about 16 percent of its population (11.5 million) in 2010.

Dr. Ballesteros writes: Households in slums are not necessarily income poor ... More than 50% live above the poverty line and can spend between US$2 and US$4 per day, but reside in poor environments. The slum-dwellers who live above the poverty line usually make minimum salaries or wages and work casually. They continue living in the slums because there is no alternative shelter in the city and “they cannot afford the cost of travelling from distant, less expensive, peri-urban regions for work and income earning opportunities in urban centers.”

She added that at the same time, not all the poor live in slums. Some are scattered around the city in areas with similar physical environments as the slums — a deficit of infrastructure and an insecurity of tenure.

The study was mainly based on interviews in four slum areas in Metro Manila, and enriched with some secondary statistics.

It also highlighted the following: environment of the slums and how it causes poverty; higher expenditure on basic services; higher health risk from urban environment and climate change; damage to social fabric and mental well-being; damage to lives and property of slum poor.

Dr. Ballesteros concludes: Unfortunately, these problems do not motivate the government to act since the government does not look at shelter deprivation as part of urban poverty caused by the environment. Shelter deprivation is mainly perceived as income poverty. Thus, government programs on shelter are mostly directed to improving affordability of individual households. Less attention is given to settlement planning and infrastructure development. The threat to settlements brought about by climate change are mainly translated into activities and strategies for disaster response rather than effective prevention.

The solution to slum poverty thus involves giving adequate attention to town planning to ensure appropriate land use planning and proper implementation of building codes and environmental laws. The provision of space for housing low-income families and the expansion of urban infrastructure to underserved, informal settlements should be an integral component of town planning.

News Report: http://www.malaya.com.ph/business-news/business/not-exactly-poor-2m-live-slums

Source: http://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/pub/2014/environments-of-poor-southeast-asia.pdf

Photo by John Francis Lagman: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jlagman17/514430524

Government evicts 4,400 families from waterways

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Sun, 11 May 2014 08:37:00 +0000

THE Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has evicted some 4,400 families (22,000 persons) from major waterways in Metro Manila.

DILG Secretary Mar Roxas said this is part of the government's Integrated Flood Plan, which he presented during the Flood Summit held last month at the House of Representatives.

About 100,000 families live in danger zones, including some 60,000 along waterways.

Roxas said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will evict some 19,440 families (97,200 persons) in order to clean up eight major waterways.

The government's budget for the relocation is P50 billion. A financial assistance worth P18,000 will be distributed (P1,500 a month rental assistance) to each family who agrees to be evicted even if the relocation is not yet provided.

To keep the informal settlers (squatters) from leaving their distant relocation sites, the DILG has constructed few near-site or on-site medium rise buildings in Manila.

President Benigno Aquino III has instructed that the relocation efforts should not displace families from their sources of livelihood and schools.

Source: http://www.rappler.com/news/57635-dilg-moves-families-danger-zones

Related story by UPA: 59 families in Estero de San Miguel-Legarda move to Muzon, Bulacan

Slum dwellers face forced eviction; Road widening project to leave 1,600 homeless

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Sun, 27 Apr 2014 11:03:00 +0000

Slum dwellers in five villages of Tondo district in Manila were evicted last Tuesday (April 22) to make way for a road-widening project by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The P100 million Road 10 (R-10) project will add two more lanes to its 2-kilometer section adjacent to Manila's North Harbor area. It is expected to improve traffic flow in Metro Manila but it will also render some 1,600 people homeless.

Homelessness may yet again be the fate of 27-year-old Mary Jane Paco, who lives with her husband and one-year-old child.

Paco’s family used to lived on the sidewalk outside the Santo Niño de Tondo Parish Church. The shanty on Road 10 has provided them shelter for the last three years.

"We may yet again live on the streets, and maybe go back to our old refuge on the sidewalk outside the Tondo church after authorities flatten our home," she said.

Yolanda Gamido, 53, finds herself in the same predicament. She is a renter and is not qualified for relocation. The mother of two now lives alone, barely getting by on her pension.

Ammie Serafin, a former overseas worker said she has heavily invested in Road 10. She bought a land property, renting out the 15 rooms in her three-storey house. She also bought other properties in the area.

Judith Javar, a 35-year-old mother of four, was born and raised in the slums along Road 10. Last year her family was relocated to Bocaue, Bulacan, about 30 kilometers northeast of Manila. She said she returned to Tondo because there is no livelihood in the relocation site.

Javar prays for a better life now that she will be forced to return to the relocation site; otherwise she becomes homeless.

Sixty-one-year-old Merly Barredo, a long-time resident of R-10, will be relocated to Bocaue. The National Housing Authority (NHA) gave her a US$22 allowance and provided a truck to transport her personal belongings. Barredo works as a candy vendor in Tondo, earning $7-11 a day.

She came to Manila 30 years ago to seek a better life. She said the life she had on Road 10 was actually better than the rural life in her hometown in Aklan province.

"Being relocated to Bocaue is like returning to my life in the mountains," she said.

The demolition is expected to finish by the end of the month.

Some urban poor groups say it was illegal and they blame the privatization of Manila's port as the reason behind the demolition.

Source: http://www.ucanews.com/news/slum-dwellers-prepare-for-demolition-in-manila/70786

Badjao a tribe losing home at sea; Road where tribal folk pitched tents cleared

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Sun, 27 Apr 2014 00:27:00 +0000

Presiana Abdusalam longs to go back to her village of Mariki in Zamboanga City. “I want to sleep to the sound of the sea,” the Badjao mother of three said.

In Mariki, all Abdusalam needs to do to have food on the table and earn some money is to wade through the waters during low tide to gather seashells and crabs, or go fishing in deeper waters, 2 kilometers away from her house on stilts.

But for now, she is stuck on land. She and her family are among the hundreds of people staying along RT Lim Boulevard, also known as Cawa-Cawa, after their homes were burned last year during an attack by Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels.

Their stay in Cawa-Cawa is again threatened by the city government’s plan to transfer them.

Satulnina Aril, another Badjao evacuee, opts to stay in the crowded evacuation center “because this is near the sea.”

“Relocating us to places far from the sea is like killing us. I feel very, very sad about how our government is treating us,” she added.

Aril said the families were just waiting word from Mayor Isabelle Climaco-Salazar that they could return to their villages in Mariki and Rio Hondo.

Rio Hondo and Mariki, less than 2 km away from City Hall, are near the villages of Santa Barbara, Kasanyangan and Santa Catalina—the battlegrounds of government forces and MNLF rebels in September last year. Fire of unknown origin razed houses, mosques and even bancas in Rio Hondo and Mariki.

The number of people displaced by the fighting reached 120,000, and the city has relocated them to “transitory sites” in the villages of Tulungatong and Taluksangay.

Tulungatong is a Christian-dominated village 17 km away from the city center. Commuters pay P30 for transport fare and must shell out P20 more for a passenger motorcycle (habal-habal) ride to reach the transitory site, 5 km away from the highway.

The predominantly Muslim Taluksangay is 19 km away from the city center. Transport fare is costlier at P50.

Aril said that aside from threats posed by pirates in nearby Sacol Island, the Badjao faced discrimination in Taluksangay.

In February, the city government offered new sites in the village of Talon-Talon, Mampang and Arena Blanco. But local leaders have opposed the plan in Talon-Talon, which is nearer the city center at 4.75 km, in Mampang (6 km) and Arena Blanco (9 km).

Salazar said all relocation was temporary, unless the law would not allow the evacuees to return to their original homes.

The mayor said that after Supertyphoon “Yolanda” devastated Eastern Visayas last year, rebuilding in areas 40 meters away from danger zones had been banned.

“We await the decision from the [Department of] Environment and Natural Resources,” Salazar said, referring to the rebuilding in areas like Mariki and Rio Hondo, which are surrounded by mangroves and are considered government-protected.

Already, the plight of the Badjao has caught the attention of the nongovernment Change.org, whose online petition has already drawn some 3,000 signatures, according to its director, Honeylyn Alipio.

“Please return the Badjao evacuees to their homes and not in the mountains, or at least consider consulting them first before moving them to any place they think they would not survive in,” the petition said.

“This is inhumane,” Alipio said of the government plan to relocate the sea-based Badjao on land.

Salazar said any relocation should have the consent of the evacuees. “We are not forcing them to move out of the evacuation centers,” she said.

“We are asking the public to support us in this campaign because the city government is trying its best to prevent further deaths if they continue to stay on the shorelines that are not very safe for them,” she said.

Zenaida Arevalo, regional director of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, agreed that the transfer of the Badjao evacuees was voluntary.

“They asked for a transfer to a comfortable place because many are getting sick and dying in Cawa-Cawa,” she said.

Reacting to the online petition, Arevalo said she hoped the signatories would also check on the condition of the relocated Badjao.

Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/597544/badjao-a-tribe-losing-home-at-sea

Online petition: http://www.change.org/ph/mga-petisyon/mayor-ma-isabel-climaco-zamboanga-city-director-zenaida-arevalo-dswd-region-9-relocate-conflict-affected-100-badjao-families-in-coastal-barangays-not-in-the-mountains

Catholic group feeds Manila's homeless

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Sat, 26 Apr 2014 12:04:00 +0000

A Catholic lay group in Tondo, Manila is providing free rice porridge and bread to homeless and beggars every Friday.

Emil Mendoza, one of the volunteers, knows that he can only do so much because some homeless will still go to sleep on an empty stomach.

The group Lugaw ni San Jose (LSJ) has been doing the feeding program near the Quiapo Church for over ten years.

“The Nazareno has always been kind to us, so it is only proper that we return the favor. And being blessed that we are, it only befits us as Catholic Christians to extend charity to our less fortunate brothers and sisters,” Mendoza said.

They provide free meals for breakfast at 6:00 am, lunch at 12:00 noon, and dinner at 6:00 pm.

A young man from Mindanao has availed of the feeding program for two months. He left his hometown to find his luck in Manila and now considers the sidewalk of Quezon Boulevard his home.

Over 100 homeless patiently wait in line everyday to have their bowls filled. Some of them go back to the line to get some food again.

Feeding the hungry is one of the 7 Corporal Works of Mercy which the Catholic Church enjoins all faithful to observe.

The other six are: giving drink to the thirsty; clothing the naked; sheltering the homeless; visiting the sick; visiting the imprisoned; and burying the dead.

These are drawn from the Gospel of Matthew (25:35-36) which reads, “I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me.’

Source: http://www.cbcpnews.com/cbcpnews/?p=34778

Photo by John Francis Lagman: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jlagman17/10811836486/in/set-72157637579936723

Fire leaves 5,000 homeless

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 03:55:00 +0000

A huge night fire sent slum dwellers running for their lives and destroyed more than a thousand homes in Davao City.

The city’s skyline lit up as firefighters battled for more than five hours against flames that leapt swiftly from one shanty to another in the depressed coastal neighborhood of Isla Verde in Barangay 23-C (village 23-C) on Friday (April 4, 2014) night.

As the fire continued to blaze for hours, hundreds of houses were also burned in the neighboring villages of 21-C and 22-C.

“I’m back to zero. I don’t know how I can recover,” said grocer Norayna Serad, who lost her store and merchandise worth P100,000 that she had paid for with three years’ worth of savings from working abroad.

“Maybe I will need to go back to Kuwait and work as a maid again,” the 28-year-old said as she clutched a half-burnt Koran beside the ruins of her shop.

The blaze was put under control shortly after 1 a.m. on Saturday, but by then, about 5,000 people were left homeless, local civil defense officials said.

Children scavenged for twisted metal and corrugated iron sheets among the ruins to sell for scrap.

“These were houses made of light materials. They were all razed,” said Jimmy Martinez, an official of the civil defense office for the Davao region.

Some of the houses had rested on stilts that stuck out of the coastal waters, and firefighters said they had difficulty moving through the narrow, winding alleyways between the shanties, he said. More than a thousand families sought refuge at a government schoolhouse that escaped the blaze.

Martinez added that the slum sat on a previously vacant government lot that had been gradually settled by impoverished migrants to the city of 1.5 million people.

The blaze apparently started when an untended candle in one of the houses tipped over in the early evening, Davao fire investigator Ramil Gillado said.

A fisherman’s wife, Gina Salapuddin, watched her husband mark out with string the place where their shanty had stood, as the couple began planning for rebuilding even though they had lost practically all their possessions.

“God will provide,” the 32-year-old woman said.

The affected residents are staying in several evacuation centers in the city. The Bureau of Fire Protection is still determining the total cost of damage left by the incident.

Full report: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/592252/2-fires-leave-5000-homeless-raze-govt-offices

Cardinal Tagle laments poverty amid progress

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 04:39:00 +0000

MANILA Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle has expressed alarm over the rising unemployment and worsening poverty in the country despite the highly touted economic growth rates.

Tagle said that while the government should be commended for the robust economic growth the country had been experiencing, many Filipinos continued to be poor and jobless.

The prelate noted the paradox in an interview last week with Tele Care, a New York-based Catholic television network in the “Everyday Faith Live” program, where he also discussed the imbalances in the Philippine economy.

The cardinal flew to the United States last week to receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Fordham University.

“We have to salute our government and also the business sector. However, we were alarmed to see also that the level of poverty has not gone down,” Tagle was quoted as saying in the CBCP News, the official news service of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

He said it was “worth rejoicing” that the Philippines registered the highest gross domestic product growth rate in Southeast Asia last year.

“So you ask the question where is this growth going? How come there is this very accelerated growth economically, but ordinary people remained poor?” he said.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) recently reported an increase in unemployment among Filipinos despite economic growth in 2013 exceeding the targets.

The PSA said that in January, the unemployment rate climbed to 7.5 percent from last year’s 7.1 percent, the second-fastest in Asia next to China’s 7.7 percent.

Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/591400/cardinal-tagle-laments-poverty-amid-progress

Urban poor follow in Holy Family’s footsteps

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Carrying banners, Christmas lanterns and giant puppets, some 3,000 slum dwellers marched in the streets of Manila to reenact the travails of Joseph and Mary in search for lodging in Bethlehem.

The poor people walked from Palanca Street in Manila to Mendiola Bridge, a few meters from the gates of the presidential palace, to dramatize their own search for a decent shelter.

Maria Nita Belotindos, a 39-year-old mother of three who played Mary, said what they want is to call the attention of President Benigno Aquino III to their plight.

© Full report at ucanews.com

Catholics put robots through their paces

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 01:44:00 +0000

Filipino Catholic youths joined over 600 young scientists from about 20 countries for this year’s World Robot Olympiad, an annual competition to showcase robotic systems.

“It is really hard but we really don’t mind because we wanted to prove that we can do it, said Alexandra Guevarra from the province of Bulacan, north of Manila.

Guevarra and her team grabbed the top prize in the junior high school open category of the competition.

© Full report at ucanews.com

Thousands rejoice over new Spanish saint

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 02:31:00 +0000

Thousands of Filipinos have turned out to celebrate the canonization of Spanish Saint Candida Maria de Jesus, who founded the Daughters of Jesus.

“The Church is thankful for the fruits of her holiness, including the youths who were educated in schools founded by her congregation,” Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila said at a Manila celebration on Oct. 18.

Saint Candida was one of six people canonized by Pope Benedict XVI a day earlier. They included Stanislaw Soltys Kazimierczyk, Andre (Alfred) Bessette, Mary Helen MacKillop, Giulia Salzano and Battista (Camilla) Varano.

© Full report at ucanews.com

People, institutions honored for promoting Christian values

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 23:30:00 +0000

Several individuals, schools and media institutions were recognized by an award-giving body for promoting Christian values.

“I really thank God and Mama Mary. It’s an honor to have this award,” said Fatima Soriano, a blind 17-year-old who bagged the Best Inspirational Song award for Awit ng Puso (Song of the Heart) at the 2010 Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA).

Jesuit newpaper columnist Father Joaquin Bernas was granted the Serviam Award at the awards ceremony held on Oct. 13 at the Medicine Auditorium of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.

© Full report at ucanews.com

Church ‘must stop taking tainted cash’

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:29:00 +0000

The Philippine Church must stop benefiting from the very corruption that it seeks to eradicate, says a social activist priest.

“There are some Church institutions that are receiving [money] from government institutions like the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagor), the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) etc.,” said Father Jose Dizon.

The priest, a member of Solidarity Philippines which promotes Church social teachings, made these comments amid controversy over huge bonuses and perks that officials of government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) allegedly gave themselves.

The Philippine Senate is currently conducting an investigation into the matter.

© Full report at ucanews.com

Limits on pension rights for elderly draw flak

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:16:00 +0000

The Philippine government’s deferment of the full implementation of a law that provides pensions to the elderly is biased against the poor, says a senior citizen’s organization.

The government had announced it could only release 871 million pesos (US$19.64 million) next year. This is a fraction of the 7 billion required annual funding for a 500-peso elderly monthly pension as provided by law.

Only those 80 years old and above now qualify for the pension in 2011 or about 145,150 senior citizens, as opposed to the estimated 4.1 million elderly who are 60 years and older and who should be receiving the pension.

“I’m quite disappointed,” said Ed Gerlock of the NGO Coalition of Services of the Elderly (COSE). He said most of the elderly are below 80 years old.

© Full report at ucanews.com

Filipinos snub Caritas flood aid appeal

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:09:00 +0000

A week after appealing for aid for Pakistan flood victims, Caritas Filipinas is yet to receive donations from Philippine dioceses, says a Caritas official.

“We need to strategize how to drum up appeal,” said Father Edwin Gariguez, executive secretary of the bishop’s conference’s social action secretariat that administers Caritas Filipinas.

Filipinos seem unaware of what is going on in Pakistan, he said. “There’s not much media exposure.”

© Full report at ucanews.com

New-style urban poor need Church help

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 03:39:00 +0000

A NEW type of homeless street people has emerged in Metro Manila as urban poor communities are demolished and jobs hard to find, a visiting Japanese social scientist and researcher said.

This is a new phenomenon, the result of globalization and a crisis of capitalism, Hideo Aoki, director of Institute on Social Theory and Dynamics based in Hiroshima City, Japan, told ucanews.com Sunday.

He estimates that there are “more than 100,000” homeless people living in and around Metro Manila.

© Full report at ucanews.com

Gay clergy urged to ‘heal’ themselves

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 01:07:00 +0000

Catholic leaders must address the issue of homosexuality and the “healing process” must start with the “gay bishops and priests,” a leader of a Catholic homosexuals group said.

Rolando de los Reyes Jr., head of Courage Philippines told a recent gathering of some 30 guidance counsellors and teachers from various Catholic schools in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, that the Church has been consistently bold and daring in opposing abortion, sex education in public schools and use of contraception but not homosexuality.

“Why? Because even in the Church we have problems of homosexuality,” de los Reyes said.

© Full report at ucanews.com

Manila parish refuses to fight demolitions

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 04:26:00 +0000

A PASTORAL council in Metro Manila has dismissed accusations that it is not concerned about government attempts to demolish parishioners’ homes in Santolan, Pasig City.

The accusations came after picketing residents successfully blocked a 100-strong demolition team on Aug. 9. They pointed out that no Church officials were seen among them on the picket lines.

However, Denis Teodoro, president of Santo Tomas de Villanueva parish council, countered that “our parish priest does go to the area. We discuss the problem at our meetings. It’s not true the parish doesn’t care, but we want to find the right solution to a problem that has many angles to it.”

The government wants to demolish around 15,000 homes because they are along the Marikina River and Manggahan floodway and are badly affected by occurrences like last September’s Typhoon Ketsana.

© Full report at ucanews.com

Economists to unveil study on overseas workers

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 00:21:00 +0000

TWO economists studying the impact of overseas employment on Filipino families say they may release their findings by September after receiving further feedback.

Michael Clemens of the US-based non-profit Center for Global Development (CGD) and Asian Institute of Management (AIM) professor Erwin Tiongson presented their preliminary findings to some 20 migration experts, teachers and students on Aug. 6.

The two men had conducted a survey of 899 Filipino overseas workers in Korea and more than 4,000 of their household members all over the Philippines.

The preliminary results covered matters such as remittances, income, school enrollment of workers’ children, migration by other family members, and housing and domestic help.

© Full report at ucanews.com

Cory taught Filipinos to be ’socially engaged’

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 01:20:00 +0000

CORAZON “Cory” Aquino showed Catholics the need to be socially engaged, a bishop told a memorial service marking the first anniversary of the death of the late president.

Aquino showed that “as Catholics we should be socially engaged, that piety is not just prayer, but is for social transformation,” Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan told ucanews.com after an anniversary Mass on Aug. 1.

Some 2,000 government officials, community and business leaders joined the Aquino family and friends at the St. Benilde gymnasium of La Salle Green Hills for the Mass commemorating Aquino’s death after a battle with colon cancer.

“Like a whirlwind, the wake and the funeral of President Cory awakened in us a new spirit of nationalism, a resurrection of lost pride as Filipinos,” Villegas said in his homily.

© Full report at ucanews.com

Autistic artist shares his ‘blessings’

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 01:00:00 +0000

ARTIST Jose Antonio Tan who grew up with autism plans to donate part of the proceeds of his painting exhibition to a local autism center as a way of “sharing” his blessings.

The 24-year-old artist and his family are donating 150,000 pesos (US$3,300) to the Autism Resource Center of Los Banos in Laguna province near Manila.

The center was founded by a parents’ group to help young adult and adolescent autism sufferers develop their skills.

The artist also “would like to make a difference to the world of autism even in a small way,” said Jose Antonio’s mother Zelie Tan.

© Full report at ucanews.com

Malacañang and esteros

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:14:00 +0000

Commentary : Malacañang and esteros

By Denis Murphy
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Posted date: July 28, 2010

RECENTLY WITHIN a span of one week, I visited two places that are within walking distance of each other, but look so completely different you wouldn’t think they belong to the same city: Estero de San Miguel and Malacañang.

We had a host in each area: Aling Imelda Ramos, 72, on the estero and President Aquino himself in Malacañang. We were fortunate to spend a good bit of time with each of these persons. At the end, we felt that the places may be very different, but there is the same Filipino sensibility in both, especially the ability to see the serious side of reality, but also the amusing side, which is surely a great virtue for a poor woman or a president to have.

Along one of the dark and narrow alley ways of Estero de San Miguel we met Aling Imelda. She was seated on her bangkito washing clothes, but she stood up to talk to us. It was a dismal place. She could see we were reacting to the smells of urine and worse, so she said, “We don’t smell it anymore. We’re used to it.” Back along the alleyway we had seen human waste pouring from pipes that extended out over the water from buildings across the way. At one point there was an explosion like a bomb going off. We ducked but it wasn’t a bomb. It was a large plastic bag of garbage dropped into the estero from the fourth story of another building. There were other “explosions” as we talked to Aling Imelda.

She is now in her 70s and has lived there since the time of President Elpidio Quirino. There are between 500 and 600 families living in her section of the estero. She says they are happy because they are long-time residents who know each other and trust each other. “We take care of each other. Most of us are vendors, so we are close to our working areas.”

The government is threatening to remove them from the estero, because it is judged to be a “danger” area, she said, though in the 50 years or more she has lived there nothing bad has happened to them. Even “Ondoy” didn’t hurt them. “It came up to my waist but no one was hurt,” she said. She added, “We don’t want anything from government. We wish they would leave us alone.”

The government talks of esteros and the estimated 80,000 families living on them as if they were all the same and as if one solution could suit all. Esteros differ from one another as much as people do. Not all people on esteros have to be relocated. Some can be accommodated along the banks, allowing for proper easement. Some have to move out. Some can live on idle land nearby. In some esteros people may very well block the water. In others they probably don’t. The government should study each estero carefully. God and the devil are in the details.

Rats peered out at us from cracks in the flooring of the alley. Maybe they wanted to know what was going on.

Replacing the warmth, friendship, security and mutual aid practices of such communities as Aling Imelda’s is very, very difficult for government to do in the best of circumstances. How can it do that for 80,000 families who don’t want to move?

Patiently Aling Imelda answered all our questions, though the soap bubbles in her washbasin had disappeared and her once clean looking clothes were lying there like dead fish. It was simple courtesy that kept her there talking to us.

A few days later my wife, myself, some urban poor people and NGOs were invited to meet President Noynoy in Malacañang. My wife had complained to friends in the Cabinet that the President and his advisers had completely neglected the urban poor once the election was finished. When the President heard of that complaint, he called for the meeting.

We met in a truly beautiful room. It is used for meetings, but it had the comfortable lived-in air of a family sala. President Cory Aquino had held office there. There were flowers, rare white orchids and oil paintings, one of which showed the moon and a pine forest at night in a blue mist. Everything was restful. We waited for the President at a table for 20 people.

There was a rustle of activity and a powerful looking bodyguard came into the room and gave us a quick look-over. There was no sign of what he thought of us. Then the president came in, talking even as he came near, drowning out the voice of the female assistant who called out, “The President of the Republic of the Philippines.”

We spent over an hour with the President. He could have handled our complaints in 10 or 15 minutes if he wanted. We presented some good and some not-so-good ideas. He listened to them all and talked about them. He explained why he had made certain appointments. He reminisced about concerns that had recently been brought to his attention, that most Philippine provinces, for example, are at high risk of very damaging disasters, and no province is not at risk. He talked about Pagasa’s failure to predict the path of “Basyang” and how he’ll have to attract investments to get better facilities.

Our group appreciated the way he put everyone at ease. He talked about his problems and listened to his visitors’ problems. He laughed a lot. He is not in a hurry. He had time to inquire into the details of some problems presented.

As I was listening to him talk I was reminded of Aling Imelda on Estero de San Miguel.

“Who do we go to when we have problems?” our group asked.

“Come to me,” he said. An agreement was made that he would meet once a month with the urban poor.

The places are totally different—the estero and Malacañang—but the people living in the two places are very much alike, which promises well for the long-range progress of the country, it seemed to us.

Denis Murphy works with the Urban Poor Associates. His e-mail address is upa@pldtdsl.net.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20100728-283727/Malacaang-and-esteros

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Plan proposes means to stop human trafficking

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:31:00 +0000

Lawmakers and civil society groups have agreed on proposals to change laws and intensify action on human trafficking from the Philippines.

The proposals came at a July 22 dialogue on human trafficking between civil society and leaders in government held in Manila.

Officials, legislators and civic leaders, including members of Laura Vicuna Foundation of the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco, and the Center for Overseas Workers of the Religious of the Good Shepherd listened to survivors of human trafficking operations, and the lawyer who prosecuted the first human trafficking case tried in the country.

In 2005, Darlene Pajarito, Assistant City Prosecutor of Zamboanga City, successfully prosecuted three members of a syndicate who were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment with a fine of 2 million pesos (US$43,000) for trafficking.

Pajarito moved for the inclusion of a legal “rape shield” as one of the amendments of the law to protect complainants. Currently, the anti-trafficking law allows defense lawyers to cross-examine complainants on their alleged “loose morals.

© Full report at ucanews.com

Be the solution, priest tells students

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:12:00 +0000

Former Pampanga governor Father Eduardo “Among Ed” Panlilio told University of the Philippines students in Quezon City that miracles can happen in politics.

In an address on prospects for changing Philippine politics and society, Panlilio said that reforms he introduced in Pampanga showed that it is “possible to have transparency, accountability, people participation, respect for ecology, humility and dignity in public service.”

He urged students to “be hopeful” and to “be a solution to the problem.”

He added that he now hopes to resume his priestly ministry following his failed bid for re-election.

© Full report at ucanews.com

Floodway and Salubong

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Mon, 17 May 2010 07:35:00 +0000

When you walk along the Manggahan Floodway these days, as we did last week, past kilometer after kilometer of bulldozed houses and rubble, you may think you are in East Jerusalem or Afghanistan. The dismal scene is not the work of the Jewish military or the Taliban, however, but that of the Philippine government evicting 60,000 poor families.

This eviction in Pasig is part of the post-Ondoy rehabilitation work, government claims, but residents say they were scarcely affected by Ondoy: no one died and the houses survived. They admit there is a need to improve the area’s abilities to resist natural disasters, but they say there is no need to remove the families. The people believe the real operative plan of government is to remove the poor and replace them with up-scale housing, commercial establishments, and to enrich those who make all that possible.

The plan to replace them was conceived long before Ondoy, the people told us. They were working then with Atty. Bienvenido Salinas of the Urban Poor Associates’ St. Thomas More Law Center to bring a case to court to stop that plan when the floods came. It’s the same plan of government, but now it is driven by the national government agencies. Before Pasig City was the driving force.

The number of families threatened in recent months by the Supreme Court decision on Manila Bay and the eviction orders of national agencies, reaches as high as 400,000 families, according to estimates based on government news reports,

The alarming dimension of all this violence is not just the sheer size, but the fact that government agencies charged with protecting the people and the institutions of civil society haven’t protested dramatically against the unusually large number of violations of law and human rights. An older Filipino told me, as we walked along the Floodway, that we were nearing the end of the democratic road since there was only silence and not a roar of protest over so many poor families shipped to far off resettlement sites where there is little work or no work for them.

On Easter Sunday, the Salubong of Jesus and the Virgin Mary was held on the Floodway at the Legazpi Bridge that spans the water. Jesus and Mary, played by giant puppets, approached each other in two bancas as thousands of people watched. At the bridge they met and a child angel removed Mary’s black veil. The white robes shone in the afternoon sun. Then side by side the bancas came to the shore where crowds of people surged to the water’s edge to meet them. The puppets were carried ashore while little girls in white sang hymns. A prayer service followed.

Wouldn’t it be nice, I thought, if the risen Jesus and Mary could come to the threatened urban poor communities and strengthen them in their struggle for a decent place to raise their children?

Jesus and Mary do come, of course, in the form of young community organizers and priests, sisters, medical workers and people of all professions and backgrounds, including the people’s own leaders, who help the poor help themselves, and help them grow in dignity and confidence. A society that stands quietly by and allows massive evictions to take place will face a harsh judgment from the Lord on Judgment Day, according to Matthew’s Gospel 25: 31-46).

As the prayer service ended, airplanes flew over in silence, as if they respected the people’s sorrow, but were admitting they couldn’t do anything to help. However, when the planes were high up, there was a powerful roar of the engines. Was that an omen that our society will no longer tolerate the eviction of thousands upon thousands of innocent children? Will the future be different?

-Denis Murphy works with the Urban Poor Associates. His email address is upa@pldtdsl.net.

Quezon City Police dispersal and arrests of urban poor victims of demolition

noreply@blogger.com (john francis lagman) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 10:23:00 +0000