Unfeeling Aquino adding to urban poor’s suffering

The promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR) strongly condemns the additional sufferings being inflicted by the Aquino administration on people in urban poor communities, particularly in Metro Manila.

Our poor brothers and sisters are human beings created in the likeness of God. People are meant to be respected and defended. They were created with dignity.

As this statement is being drafted, a number of people along Agham Road in Quezon City have stood their ground against attempts by a demolition team to forcibly evict them from their homes. A letter from the Office of the Secretary to the Mayor of Quezon City was received by residents, threatening them with ejection should they refuse to leave the area.  The Quezon City government has a long-standing plan to establish a business district to be developed by Ayala Corp.

More and more people will suffer the same fate as there are similar government plans to demolish urban poor communities this year. In the same breath, the Aquino administration is also using the issue of flooding in the metropolis to justify its move to displace urban poor people living in the so-called “danger zone.”

In the midst of ongoing massive demolitions, the Aquino administration offers a measly P18,000  per family and/or relocation areas that are far from suitable for decent living. Added to this misery are the absence of employment opportunities and the lack of essential social services such as health and education. Worst of all, the affected residents will find themselves facing vulnerable and dangerous conditions especially in times of calamity as the designated relocation sites are found to be prone to flooding and other natural calamities.

The Aquino administration’s policy and programs when it comes to the urban poor clearly display similarities to the previous administration’s.  Instead of identifying the needs of the urban poor and showing at the very least compassion for them, it considers them criminals, eyesores, social dregs or a hindrance to development.

We demand that the Aquino administration respect the dignity and life of the urban poor and meet its obligation to provide them with the essential social services.  We call on the local officials not to yield to pressure from the national government for them to inflict more pain and suffering on the poor instead of protecting their rights to have a decent living.

We urge the faithful to join hands with the urban poor as they long for decent homes, seeking to determine the direction of their lives and to craft their future as promised.  As a pastoral message of the Church, “Gaudium et Spes” tells us, “the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.”

—NARDY SABINO, secretary general,

Promotion of Church People’s Response,

pcprnatl@gmail.com