A labor NGO asked the government’s national housing agencies today to explain the incidents of demolition against the urban poor across the country in the past week, saying that these demolitions violate Filipinos’ right to decent housing and due process.

The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) demanded that the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and the National Housing Authority (NHA) explain why urban poor residents were forcefully evicted from their homes in at least five incidents in the past week.

“Why is the government going on a demolition rampage? The government should be implementing policies to alleviate the effects of the rising prices of petroleum and other basic products on the poor. Instead, it is increasing the poor’s burden and ramping up repressive measures against the poor,” said Kamz Deligente, CTUHR executive director.

CTUHR cited the following demolition cases:

>> April 9 – against residents of NIA Road in Barangay Pinyahan, Quezon City. The residents erected a barricade, and the police took an hour to end their resistance, arresting seven.

>> April 9 – against residents of Barangay Bolod in Panglao, Bohol. Three residents were hurt, while one fainted, due to the tension surrounding the demolition.

>> April 13 – against residents of Panday Creekside in Barangay Palingon-Tipas, Taguig City, which saw the deployment of a sniper from the Philippine National Police SWAT force. A staff member of Karapatan-National Capital Region was reportedly held and blottered for delivering the residents’ letter to the Taguig City local government, while six members of the demolition team were reportedly injured by the residents’ resistance.

>> April 14 – against 100 families in Veloso Street in Matina Aplaya, Davao City, with some residents threatening legal action after failing to prevent the demolition team from destroying their homes.

>> April 14 – against residents of Purok 6B Riverside, Brgy. Bambang in Los Baños, Laguna. The demolition team claimed that they merely wanted to measurements in the area but proceeded to start the demolition operations.

“If only the NHA and DHSUD respect the urban poor’s right to decent housing and due process, forceful eviction from homes should not happen. It appears that the authorities want to shortcut processes in favor of landowners and do away with holding proper consultations, providing relocation areas, among others. This is despicable,” Deligente added.

Observing that the demolitions followed Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla’s implementation of the “Safer Cities Initiative,” which also targeted the urban poor, CTUHR called on the Ferdinand Marcos Jr government to stop the attacks on the poor and instead work on measures that will provide immediate relief to the poor in the midst of the worsening cost of living crisis