National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Secretary and Lead Convenor Liza Maza visited the ‘homeless camp’ of Manggahan Floodway residents who lost their homes two weeks ago in a local government-implemented demolition. Maza said that the agency was alarmed upon receiving information about homeless Floodway residents camping out in Mendiola Bridge.
“The mere fact that poor and homeless families have been living here in Mendiola for almost a week now is in itself a problem already. Most especially that 50 children including infants stay here under the direct heat of the sun and pouring rain,” Maza said in an interview.
In her speech, Maza admitted that “the ever-worsening housing problem in the country is in deep crisis that is ready to explode anytime.”
The anti-poverty czar also insisted that the Duterte government must immediately address and resolve its mass housing framework policies for the benefit of our poor and homeless people.
Maza also told residents that the NAPC is one with them in finding ways to resolve issues on housing, decent livelihood among others. She said that the problem on mass housing is one of the focal issues that she wanted to address since her first day in office.
She also assured the residents that the agency would remain true to its mandate of bridging the urban poor sector to different concerned government agencies and providing assistance on policy advocacy and services towards concrete solutions to their plight.
Concrete solutions
During her dialogue with the leaders, Sec. Maza announced that NAPC would be initiating Convergence, an inter-agency meeting and dialogue between leaders of urban poor sectors and officials of different government agencies including the National Housing Authority (NHA) and Housing Urban Development Coordinating Committee (HUDCC) on November 9. Balikwas Kadamay members would join the meeting as representatives of homeless Floodway residents.
Convergence, according to Maza, aimed to give a venue for homeless urban poor and victims of demolitions and government agency officials to meet and craft concrete and relevant solutions to the housing problem. These would be submitted to the president on the next Cabinet meeting.
According to Maza, she saw “on-site development” and “in-city relocation” as concrete and relevant yet temporary solution to the mass housing problem in Manggahan Floodway in Pasig.
She said that the almost 100 families in the ‘homeless camp’ in Mendiola must immediately be relocated within Pasig City as temporary staging area while setting up temporary structures and on-site development projects for them inside the City.
Maza noted that the staging area must be within Pasig City to ensure that the residents would not be removed from their place of work, livelihood and education.
Maza also said, “The low-rise building being built near the Floodway East Bank Road could also be an option but it needs further reinforcement. These substandard relocation sites must be reinforced and must be provided with enough social services and public utilities, including water and electricity, for them to become livable.”
“Affordability of these permanent housing units that would be offered must also be considered. If the prices are reasonable, our poor countrymen can surely avail it,” noted Maza, knowing the current housing programs of the government are not offered free of charge.
Balikwas Kadamay members warmly welcomed Maza’s suggestions. They also gave Sec. Maza some documents regarding their concerns and expressed gratitude to her visit.
The group said that in their more than a week of stay in Mendiola, Maza was the first government official to pay them a visit. They also told Maza that residents are still not giving up their previous demands for the awarding of the public land of Manggahan Floodway to them.
