DAVAO CITY, Philippines—The urban poor group Kadamay has assailed the “defender of the urban poor” award given to Mayor Sara Duterte by the Presidential Commission on Urban Poor (PCUP) last week.
Sheena Duazo, Kadamay deputy secretary general, said Duterte did not deserve the recognition because she has not done much to protect the poor of the city.
The award, given at Malacañang during PCUP’s anniversary Friday, recognizes individuals who have helped informal settlers.
Duazo said from July to November this year, more than 1,000 families were dislocated here when their houses were subjected to demolition. Duterte, she said, did not do anything to defend them.
“How can the PCUP award the mayor when she did not take any action to the demands of the urban poor against demolition?” Duazo said.
In July, Duterte earned the admiration of the city’s poor when she punched a court sheriff who was forcing the demolition of several houses in Agdao district.
But Duazo said the incident “was too shallow a reason for giving her the award, for in essence it was the barricade and strong resistance of the residents that stopped the demolition.”
After that incident, demolitions continued in the city, she said.
Kadamay also hit the PCUP for its supposed lack of credibility to give such an award because of its alleged failure to address the problems facing the urban poor.
“It seems that PCUP has no concrete knowledge of the situation of the urban poor in Davao City,” Duazo said.
Duterte on Tuesday said she was not deserving of the award too because the protection of any individual was part of her duty as city mayor.
She said she only attended the awarding at Malacañang because President Benigno Aquino III asked her to do so.
Duazo said Duterte should act on the plight of an estimated 30,000 families facing impending demolition in the city if she wanted the urban poor to give her credits.
But Duterte said it is not her job to stop demolitions.
“We can only assist them if they want to file cases before the court; we can provide them lawyers. And if they want to follow the demolition orders, we can facilitate them to the identified relocation sites in the city. But we cannot stop the demolition per se because that is under the jurisdiction of the courts,” she said.
She said City Hall has assigned two lawyers at the City Housing Office to assist those facing demolition.
Duazo said Duterte should also take action on the alleged “land-grabbing” issue involving urban poor settlers in Barangay (village) Maa and the prominent Villa Abrille family.
The mayor said nobody came to seek her help on the issue.
“Except for their protest actions and pickets at City Hall, urban poor groups never sought my help in the Villa Abrille case,” she said.