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Campagne Zéro Expulsion

Eviction of Occupied Areas in the Province of Bulacan, Philippines

Titre:
Eviction of Occupied Areas in the Province of Bulacan, Philippines
Type d’expulsion:
en raison de la libéralisation du marché immobilier , en raison d’une politique de développement urbain , en raison de la privatisation du secteur du logement et des propriétés de l’Etat
Zone géographique:
Asie
Pays :
Philippines
Ville :
Pandi
Localité/Quartier:
Padre Pio, Villa Luis, Pandi Residence 3, Pandi Village 2
Nom de la communauté ou du noyau familial menacé d’expulsion:
Occupation of idle housing around several resettlement sites of the government
Estimation du nombre de personnes affectées (en chiffres):
20000
Statut d’occupation:
Occupants sans titre
Caractéristiques économiques:
Chômeur , Travailleur informel
Caractéristiques sociales:
aucune de celles-ci
Classe d’âge:
mixte
Historique et antécédents du cas:
We are writing from the Philippines on behalf of the current occupation of around 6,000 idle homes in Bulacan, a province nearby Metro Manila. KADAMAY is a national alliance of urban poor Filipinos and last March 8 2017, we led a successful campaign to occupy thousands of idle homes in resettlement sites. Women took the lead on this occasion marking International Women’s Day as well.

The occupation is a result of the failure of the National Housing Authotity (NHA) and the national government to heed the demands of the poor for housing rights. Last year, we held five dialogues with shelter agencies concerning the state of relocation sites. We aired our demands along with thousands of representatives yet these were left on deaf ears, even at the Presidential palace.

Aside from having severely inadequate public facilities and utilities like water and electricity, there are sky high amortization costs. This is on top of the glaring lack of employment opportunities. One of the more apparent issues is the number of people in relocation sites without actual housing units. Many of the people are renters, sharers and homeless.

The NHA has already admitted in past years that the number one problem of relocation sites is the exodus back to the cities. People simply cannot cope with the costs that require you to pay up to 500,000 pesos over a period of 30 years. To gain water and electricity, even for limited times, they are forced to pay rates higher than that of Manila since private corporations monopolize utilize in these areas.

The occupation was very much met with disdain by government and housing officials. Police and military have been deployed for constant harassment, food blockades have been setup to starve the occupants. There are also smear campaigns that say we are threatening violence against other residents or that we took the housing units from other beneficiaries. In truth, many of the thousands of homes (15 to 20 thousand) have been idle for 5 years or more. Only dust, vegetation and insects reside in those homes.

A study by the NHA itself last September that only 8% of around 60,000 homes erected for Police and Military personnel were occupied. This is only the ones made for the authorities. Many others are vacant because the government will not allow anyone to live there without going through a rigorous, taxing and unjust amortization scheme.

At the same time, according to data from the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP), from January 2012 to December 2016, there were 1,279 cases of demolition which affected 250,000 families and displaced around 1.2 million individuals.

While there has been support from many marginalized groups and sectors, the President has now echoed and formalized the eviction notice against the occupation. The eviction is set on March 27. We find it extremely ironic, how the government touts its process of acquiring housing, lambasts for not committing to the process (even if we had several dialogues) and yet can manage to stage an eviction in a matter of days.

Our occupation highlights a humanitarian and housing crisis of the homeless in the country. This was an organized efforts in assertion of the rights of the poor that have been neglected and exploited in so far as we can remember. The failure of the housing officials and the national government to fulfill its duty to the poor is what prompted this and they are the ones who should be evicted.

At the moment, we keep our barricades strong and are seeking greater support from all over the world. We have already met with representatives of Congress and they have filed an inquiry into the House of Representatives into the housing problem. However, now the president seems intent on the eviction.
Etendue des causes et degré de responsabilité au plan :
Local
Violations des articles de la législation internationale :
Déclaration Universelle des Droits de l’Homme , Pacte international relatif aux droits économiques, sociaux et culturels (article 11)
Raisons motivant l’expulsion, officielles et officieuses:
Illegal occupation
Principaux faits survenus en lien avec l’expulsion (dates et heure):
see case history
Nom des autorités planifiant ou procédant à l’expulsion:
National Housing Authority, empowered by the Presidential Decree No. 1472, s. 1978 Signed on June 11, 1978 (under dictator Aquino) without bringing court actions.  This way not only the NHA violates the housing rights but also the proper trial proceedings set by the General comments n. 4 and n. 7 to the art. 11 ICESCR
Nom des organismes impliqués, leurs points forts et leurs points faibles, la manière dont le problème est traitée par ces organismes:
KADAMAY the national alliance of Filipino urban poor.
Nom des agences, des ONG ou des institutions d’entraide œuvrant dans la communauté:
All organizations under the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or New Patriotic Alliance.
Mesures prises ou propositions émises jusqu’à ce jour par la communauté, les agences ou ONG présentes pour lutter contre l’expulsion et/ou chercher d’autres solutions:
Community barricades
Alternatives ou solutions possibles offertes ou proposées par les autorités locales ou nationales aux communautés concernées :
Autre
Stratégies et futures mesures prévues ou à l’étude en vue de faire face à l’affaire en cours ou à d’autres cas d’expulsions:
Immediate awarding of occupied housing units
Dates clés prévues pour de futures mesures, actions ou évènements (préciser de quoi il s’agit et quand : jour, mois, année):
Eviction notice to be served on March 20. Eviction set between March 27-29 2017
Auteur (Nom, adresse et responsabilité):
Michael Beltran, 506-A, NS Amoranto Street, barangay St. Peter, QC. Information Officer of KADAMAY National Office
Organisme informant (à l’origine et en charge du cas):
KADAMAY - Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap
Lien existant entre l’AIH et les organismes communautaires à l’origine et en charge du cas:
participation à la Campagne Zéro Expulsions
Date de la plainte:
20/03/2017
Rédacteur:
Michael Philip Beltran