Despite the eviction notice posted by the National Housing Authority (NHA) for the occupants of six housing units in Bulacan province, Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) chair Gloria Arellano stressed on Thursday that they have no plans to leave.
In a forum in Quezon City, Arellano also slammed the Duterte administration, saying it had been “deaf and mute” to the plight of the urban poor communities.
“The seven days for eviction [notice] was given out too quick, when our struggle has been decades long,” she said. “We will remain there and continue our fight, since there will be no homes for us to go back to, anyway.”
Michael Beltran of Kadamay said the group went through proper dialogues with the NHA, and even with the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council when it was still led by Vice President Leni Robredo, prior to the move to occupy the government housing projects.
Meanwhile, lawyer Rey Cortez of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers also stressed that the action by the urban poor group is no different than activists occupying Edsa during the 1986 and 2001 People Power revolt.
Citing the 1987 Constitution, Cortez said their way of assertion is legal, even though it is anchored on a different demand.
“It is a form of collective action and a form of expression,” he said. “It is within their rights to make the decision to stay.”
At least 5,000 families affiliated with Kadamay occupied the six housing projects in the province since March 8. These units were supposedly built for personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police, as well as for informal settlers in Metro Manila.
On Monday, they were served a seven-day eviction notice, but had since refused to budge, asserting that most of the housing units were vacant anyway.
Former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said the military and police had refused to settle into the housing projects, saying they were “too small” for the uniformed men and their families, and are made of substandard materials.
“We call out to the NHA: Why don’t they just build houses that the AFP and PNP would prefer to live in and give out these abandoned units to those who need them?” he said.
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