Urban poor group head urges Duterte to focus on root problems first

Members of urban poor group Kadamay put up a makeshift camp in front of housing units in Pandi, Bulacan,. (File photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

President Rodrigo Duterte should address the root problems first, like poverty, before focusing on his war on drugs, the chairperson of Kadamay, Gloria “Ka Bea” Arellano, said on Tuesday in an interview INQ & A.

“Itong Kadamay, matagal na ipinananawagan ang problemang ito. Pero ang ating pangulo kung minsan nagsasalita na lang basta, hindi sinusuri. Kaya ang gusto namin, suriin niya ang kalagayan ngayon ng mga mamamayan, lalo na kaming maralita,” Arellano said.

(“Kadamay has long been calling attention to this problem. But our president sometimes suddenly speaks without examining the issues. What we want is for him to examine the situation of citizens, especially the poor.”)

“Dahil ang tinutuunan niya lang ngayon eh ‘yung pagpatay. Ang pagtuunan niya ay ugatin ang problema ng mga mamamayan at ng maralita,” she added.

(“What he’s focusing on are the killings. What he should focus on the roots of the problems of the citizens, especially the poor.”)

Arellano, who led the Occupy Bulacan campaign, said that Duterte called for change. Now he should deliver.

The campaign was launched because the urban poors’ call for government housing fell on deaf ears.

On March 8, members of Kadamay, an urban poor group, occupied vacant and idle housing units in several resettlement zones in Bulacan.

READ:  ‘Gov’t failure prompted occupation of Bulacan housing projects’

“Wala pa siyang (Duterte) nagagawa (sa maralita). Mula nung umupo siya, ang nagawa niya, pumatay,” Arellano said.

(“He hasn’t done anything for the poor. Since he assumed his post, what’s done so far is to kill.”)

Fulfilling a campaign promise, the Duterte administration started implementing nationwide in July last year a campaign against illegal drugs. Dubbed “Oplan Tokhang,” it has resulted in the surrender or arrest of over a million drug pushers and users. The crime rate, except for murder which rose 50 percent, went down 32 percent.

READ: Crime 32% down, but murder is up 50%

The campaign has also been hounded by allegations of extrajudicial killings that have caught the attention of the international community.

Critics, among them Vice President Leni Robredo, claim that more than 7,000 drug suspects have been summarily killed since the administration launched its war on drugs.

However, the police say only about 2,500 drug suspects have been killed, mostly resulting from alleged shootouts when suspects “resist arrest.” The greater majority of the deaths have been classified as “deaths under investigation.”

Asked for a message for Duterte on his birthday, Arellano said: “Ang wish ko lang mapakinggan ng pangulo ang matagal ng dinadaing ng mga maralita. Gawan niya ng paraan. Huwag yung mga tokhang tokhang na yan, dahil wala siyang totokhangin kung nagbibigay siya ng maayos na pamumuhay sa maralita.”

(“My wish is for the president to listen to what the poor has been complaining about for so long. He should do something about it instead of that tokhang. He won’t need tokhang if he could give the poor a proper life.”)

“Iyan lang naman ang makakagamot diyan sa drugs – ‘yung paangatin mo ang buhay ng mga mahihirap,” she added. “Bigyan mo sila ng trabaho at sapat na sahod, Yun ang kailangan.”

(“That’s what would cure drug addiction – uplift the lives of the poor. Give them jobs with the right salary. That’s what we need.”) /atm