Makati squatters score demolition plan, demand in-city relocation

MANILA, Philippines–Around 1,000 people staged a protest on Monday morning against the impending demolition of about 500 houses at the Macda Compound in Barangay (village) Cembo, Makati City, and the relocation of its residents to Trece Martires in Cavite province.

The protesters included residents of Macda Compound—a 1.6-hectare government-owned property—who had formed a group called Macda Staging Neighborhood Association, residents from other barangays in Makati City and members of the United Makati against Corruption (Umac).

They held a prayer rally and a noise barrage in front of the compound to call for the suspension of the demolition which would affect about 800 informal settler families living there.

Umac spokesman Jhasper Cuayzon said the city engineering office had given residents notice to tear down their houses voluntarily or else, these would be demolished.

He added that numerous fires in the compound, including the one last February which burned 500 houses and killed two children, had prompted residents to relocate to Trece Martires, Cavite.

However, more than half of them returned to Macda compound as they could not find jobs while the relocation site had no electricity, Cuayzon added.

“It is just so ironic that we see Vice President Jejomar Binay visiting informal settler families in Marikina, Payatas and Smokey Mountain and giving them in-city relocation, but he cannot do the same [for residents in] the city which he formerly heads,” he said.

Reached for comment, Makati City spokesman Joey Salgado said that there were no plans to demolish houses at the compound.

“Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay has issued a directive that there will be no forced demolition. What the city government is doing is a voluntary relocation program. Many settlers want to avail themselves of voluntary relocation, but our political opponents are preventing them because they want to milk the issue for political propaganda,” he told the Inquirer.