Residents of village hard hit by ‘Ondoy’ in danger of losing houses anew

MANILA, Philippines—More than a year after they suffered the fury of Tropical Storm “Ondoy,” residents of Barangay (village) Tumana in Marikina City are up against another disaster, this time, of a manmade nature.

At least 300 families in the barangay are facing eviction after a court ruled in favor of a company laying claim to the lot on which their houses stand.

In an interview, Jimmy Cesguerra, a barangay councilor who lives in the area, said that he and many other residents were still recovering from the destruction wrought by Ondoy on Sept. 26, 2009.

“Most residents still haven’t paid off the debts they incurred when they lost their valuables and sources of livelihood. Now that we are starting to recover from the disaster, the court is asking us to leave and demolish our houses,” Cesguerra told the Inquirer.

Last month, Judge Liwliwa Hidalgo-Bucu of the Muntinlupa Metropolitan Regional Trial Court Branch 76 issued a notice of demolition to some 300 people living at Block 10, 11 and 12 in Barangay Tumana based on an ejection order she issued in 2004.

The order covered 38 hectares and would affect around 4,000 families in the area who work as vendors, construction workers and tricycle drivers, Cesguerra said.

The order stemmed from a civil case filed by Edgewater Realty Development Inc. (Erdi) in 1993 seeking ownership of the property.

Meanwhile, the deadline given by the court for residents to pack up and leave expired last Friday.

“We will not leave this place. We will be ready to protect our houses when the demolition team arrives,” Crispin Carurucan, another barangay councilor, said.

Carurucan said their group had been questioning Erdi’s claim because according to a 1927 map at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the property was declared an unclassified forest land.

As a result, the lot could not be owned by a private entity and the firm’s land title should be considered invalid, he explained.

Carurucan added that without a definite relocation site, leaving the area was not an option. Most of the residents have been living in Tumana for two to three decades.