Housing units occupied by KADAMAY members at the Padre Pio de Pandi Resettlement Project, Barangay Cacarong Bata, Pandi, Bulacan.Padre Pio de Pandi Resettlement Project, Barangay Cacarong Bata, Pandi, Bulacan. INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON
National Housing Authority (NHA) on Wednesday said that it will serve the eviction notice against the members of urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) who have occupied idle housing units in resettlement zones in Bulacan on Monday, March 20.
According to NHA, members of the group will be forced out of the premises if they fail to abandon the units within seven days of the issuance of the notice.
Thousands of urban poor and members of Kadamay have taken over more than 5,000 housing units in BJMP/BFP Housing, PNP/AFP Housing, Villa Elise in Barangay Masuso, Pandi Residence 2 in Barangay Mapulang Lupa, Villa Louise in Barangay Cacarong Matanda and Padre Pio in Barangay Cacarong Bata, all in Pandi town in Bulacan.
READ: Homeless take over gov’t housing projects in Bulacan
Carlito Badion, Secretary-General of Kadamay, earlier said that they will not leave the relocation sites because it is their right to have a home, especially since it is paid for by the Filipinos, including the P50-billion Informal Settler Fund.
He cited that it is President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign promise to allocate houses for the urban poor.
In an interview with Radyo Inquirer, Kadamay chair Gloria Arellano said that the urban poor and its members will stay despite the warning of NHA that it will issue an eviction notice against them.
“Mananatili po ‘yung mga tao, mananatili po sila. Ang kahilingan namin sa gobyerno ay kung magiikot-ikot naman, sabi nga ng NHA magiikot-ikot sila, kukunin nila ‘yung qualified… pero ang sinasabi namin, itong mga mahihirap na ito, ito ‘yung mga wala ng masilungan,” Arellano said.
(The people will stay. Our request to the government is that if they do rounds, NHA said they would, that they would take the ones who are qualified… but what we’re saying is the poor are the ones who have no shelter.)
“Pinuntahan lang talaga ng mga maralita iyan (resettlement zones), mayroon naman na pong mga proseso na ginawa pero talagang nagiging bingi ang gobyerno sa kanila kasi ito po ‘yung mga na-demolish (ang kanilang mga bahay) dito sa Metro Manila,” she added.
(The poor just went to the resettlement zones, there were processes that were undergone but the government seems deaf to the poor because their houses in Metro Manila were demolished.)
READ: ‘Gov’t failure prompted occupation of Bulacan housing projects’
The group led the #OccupyBulacan movement that started last March 8, in hopes that the government will recognize the “collective power of people,” and address the housing issue for the urban poor in the country. JE
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