The ongoing ‘Homeless Camp’ in Mendiola of Manggahan Floodway residents, who lost their homes in a sweeping demolition, faces threats of being dispersed starting tomorrow.
On November 3, elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the vicinity of Malacañang Palace told camping residents that Mendiola should be opened to traffic on Monday, November 6, due to the “start of classes and for ASEAN [Association of South East Asian Nations] preparations.”
Balikwas Kadamay, organization of residents who stood up against the demolition, saw the threat as a move to silence protests in the upcoming ASEAN, East Asia Summit and US President Donald Trump’s first visit to the country.
The organization of the residents, along with Kadamay, Anakbayan and Bayan Metro chapters in Metro Manila, would hold an overnight vigil tonight and a protest rally tomorrow in protest of the dispersal threat. They vowed to defend the camp in Mendiola.
On October 25, more than 100 families from East Bank in Brgy. Sta. Lucia, Pasig City participated in setting up the ‘Homeless Camp’ in Mendiola after their homes were destroyed from October 18 to 20.
The residents decried the silence and inaction of President Rodrigo Duterte as well as the lack of housing program for the poor.
They continued to call on the president to award them the national government land they occupied in Pasig City for four decades.
Driven to homelessness
The Pasig local government offered the residents P20,000 financial assistance and relocation to Tanay, Rizal. Many refused the relocation for its distance, lack of public utilities such as electricity and water, and lack of livelihood.
More families who remain homeless camped out along East Bank, near where their homes once stood. They were told by local government law enforcement employees to clear the area by November 7.
ASEAN gets share of blame
Aside from the ‘ASEAN preparations’ being cited for their imminent dispersal from Mendiola, the groups blamed the neoliberal policies and economic impositions of the ASEAN, EAS and the US government on Philippine framework policies that “caused widespread homelessness and demolitions among urban poor families nationwide.”
“Today, we register our solidarity with the rest of the Filipino people in telling US President Trump that he is not welcome in the Philippines because of the American government’s impositions to our government such as the Build-Build-Build projects and other privatization schemes that resulted to millions of Filipinos being driven from their homes, farm land and ancestral land,” says Rodrigo Villareal, president of Balikwas Kadamay.
