MANILA, Philippines?The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is seeking to expand the rules of the writ of amparo to include within its protection squatters who are being forcibly evicted and to uphold squatters? right to adequate housing.

The request was made to the Supreme Court (SC) in a CHR resolution which also recommended that the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) impose a moratorium on the forced eviction of squatters in Metro Manila.

CHR Chair Lilia de Lima said neither the Supreme Court nor the MMDA has responded to the resolution which the CHR en banc issued last Nov. 4.

In seeking to expand the protection afforded by the writ of amparo, the CHR said the relatively new judicial remedy should include the protection of people?s economic, social and cultural rights.

?Social justice and human rights dictate that urban or rural poor dwellers shall not be evicted nor their dwellings be demolished, except in accordance with law and in a just and humane manner, and that no resettlement of urban or rural dwellers shall be undertaken without adequate consultation with them and the communities where they are to be relocated,? it said in the resolution.

The petition for a writ of amparo is a remedy available to any person whose right to life, liberty and security is violated or threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or of a private individual or entity.

The writ of amparo?from the Spanish verb amparar, meaning to protect?was approved by the Supreme Court in September 2007 to protect victims of, and those threatened by, extralegal killings and enforced disappearances.

The writ, which is an order issued by the court, can be applied for by anyone. It compels state agents to look for the missing or the disappeared, failing which the official could be held liable by the court.

Covenant

The CHR argued that the Philippines was a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Covenant) which ?recognizes the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate housing.?

It said that the forced eviction of squatters was incompatible with the Covenant as it may result in ?violations of civil and political rights, such as the right to life, the right to security of the person, the right to non-interference with privacy, family and home, and the right to the peaceful enjoyment of possession.?

Urban poor groups had submitted a manifesto to the CHR denouncing what they said was the ?unjust and inhumane manner? in which the eviction was being carried out by the MMDA and the local government units.

The manifesto also called for a moratorium on these forced evictions.

The CHR resolution stressed that the eviction should be done in accordance with the provisions of the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA).

It said the MMDA has evicted illegal dwellers and demolished the shanties they have put up in public places even on holidays and weekends ?without complying with the mandatory requirements of the UDHA ? on the theory that such structures are nuisances per se.?

The CHR also recommended that the government invite the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing to the country.

726,908 squatter families

In 2004, the Housing and Urban Development Coordination Council (HUDCC) presented a report about the number of ?informal settlers? in the country at the Asian Forum conference. Citing October 1999 figures, the HUDCC said that Metro Manila had 726,908 informal settler-families, corresponding to more than half, or 51.6 percent, of the total informal settler-families nationwide.

This was followed by Southern Luzon and Bicol Region (201,536 families, or 14.3 percent), Visayas (180,842 families, or 12.8 percent), Mindanao (153,589 families, or 10.9 percent), and Northern and Central Luzon (145,617 families, or 10.3 percent).