NO CLEAN EXIT Saving his washing machine, an evicted resident walks past a line of antiriot policemen sent to secure a squatter colony up for demolition on Tuesday in Barangay South Triangle, Quezon City. PHOTOS BY LYN RILLON
DISPLACED residents spill into the streets as police-backed demolition workers begin tearing down an informal settler colony within a prime commercial area in Quezon City, which includes the ABS-CBN building and the castle-like Camelot Hotel (background).
ROCKS, bottles and plastic bags containing human waste rained down on a police-backed demolition team before it could secure and begin tearing down an informal settler community in Barangay (village) South Triangle, Quezon City, on Tuesday.
Despite the conduct of a “predemolition conference” between the residents and the local government to prevent any untoward incident, violence still marked the clearing operation in an estimated 2,000-square-meter private property at the corner of Mother Ignacia and Scout Bayoran Street, hurting a policeman and a demolition crew member.
According to Quezon City Public Affairs and Information Services Office (Paiso) officer in charge Regina Samson, the structures in the area were earlier declared illegal by the city building office and were also considered fire hazards by the Bureau of Fire Protection.
Samson said the city government had also been conducting dialogues with the settlers for the past two years regarding their eventual eviction from the property, which is owned by the firm Service Leasing.
As many as 300 families had occupied the area but around 200 already relocated and were given financial assistance by the city government, she said. Only 87 families remained as of Tuesday’s demolition.
Supt. Limuel Obon, commander of the Quezon City Police District’s Kamuning station, led a 400-strong police force to assist City Hall’s Task Force for the Control, Prevention and Removal of Illegal Structures and Squatting (Copriss) in carrying out the demolition starting at 7:30 a.m.
“An antiriot policeman and a member of the demolition team suffered bruises. We were pelted with bottles, rocks, and showered with feces and urine. I had to ask my men to take a shower afterward,” Obon said.
No arrests were made as tensions died down around midday and the last few holdouts voluntarily vacated their homes in the afternoon, allowing demolition workers to move in and taking reusable building materials from the debris.
Task Force Copriss came with a writ of execution for the demolition, which was issued by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 214.
The city government had identified this section of South Triangle for possible tourism-related developments, Samson added.
A predemolition conference was earlier held by the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor, which sent representatives to oversee the demolition on Tuesday.