Under existing policies and government priorities, there seems to be no safe place for displaced poor of Metro Manila. They have been deprived of the right to city, to adequate housing, and to decent life. Typhoon Ulysses (international name: Vamco) has again brought to the fore the government’s criminal neglect.
Category: Urban Poor
Urban poor women of Pandi sowing seeds of hope
While middle class citizens in the Metro have started tending to plants as a way to cope with their isolation, urban poor communities, with no option to work from home, collectively cultivated gardens to put food on their tables.
Bacoor residents face threat of eviction despite pandemic
“We know that we, residents of Sitio Silangan … have a right to the lands that we cultivated.”
Gov’t urged to halt demolition of urban poor communities amid pandemic
At a time when Filipino families are being told to stay at home, urban poor families in Intramuros said they have not received any relocation program at all. Residents also lamented that the Manila police has been assisting the private company in carrying out the demolition.
Carlito Badion’s infectious courage
Carlito Badion, known for his indubitable courage, was an effective urban poor leader because he knew poverty like the palm of his hand.
Urban poor in Quezon City left out from gov’t aid since March
With the Philippine government set to provide the next wave of aid for pandemic-hit Filipinos, residents of urban poor community Payatas in Quezon City said they received none since March.
Mang Dodong and other faces of injustice during lockdown
“They are not disobedient, they are just striving to survive.”
2 of 6 detained jeepney drivers, COVID-19 positive
The situation in jail, according to transport group Piston, “gave the jeepney drivers higher risks of contracting the coronavirus disease.”
Urban poor leader killed in Ormoc
“Badion championed the cause of the homeless and the informally settled. He was instrumental in Kadamay’s housing occupation campaigns and community barricades against demolition.”
Responding to Escolta’s street vendors: How do we provide relief and security to the economically vulnerable?
Most of us may be afraid and cautious of this invisible virus possibly lurking in our vicinity. But for the economically vulnerable, it is the untrustworthy authorities that they are most afraid of during this quarantine. With Duterte’s order to shoot anyone who does not obey, the police were given even more power to assert their authority over the vendors and homeless.
Informal workers find ways to earn, but still struggle because of lockdown
“Government is contented with the limited food aid that they have given us, without even thinking that it would only last for a day or two, what would happen after that? And then there are the other needs of our family like medicine, where would we get that?”