KARAPATAN condemned the spate of violent demolitions in different parts of the country, saying the timing suggests that these are being done to “sanitize” the country’s image for the arrival of political bigwigs, including US Pres. Donald Trump, for the ASEAN Summit in May.
“These demolitions have led to the displacement, illegal arrest and injuries to urban poor residents defending their homes, and the disruption of their livelihoods,” said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay.
“Violent demolitions have been reported in Purok 6B, Barangay Bambang, Los Baños, Laguna; NIA Road, Barangay Pinyahan, Quezon City, cruelly demolished after the community had just been razed in a fire and where seven residents were arrested after resisting the demolition; Panday Creekside, Palingon-lipas, Taguig City; and the ambulant vendors at the Iloilo Terminal Market, triggering an even bigger livelihood crisis among them amid the ongoing energy crunch.”
In many of the affected communities, she added, residents have been occupying the area for decades, some for as long as 60 years. Big business interests or so-called development projects have swooped in, locking horns with the residents, and the state has chosen to side, not with the people, but with the landgrabbers, said Palabay.
“The Marcos Jr. regime is already allotting a whopping ₱17 billion to host the ASEAN Summit and welcome its master Trump, amid the gruelling crisis,” said Palabay. “On top of this, the dictator’s scion is doing the Imeldific, trying to hide the seedy side of Philippine reality by forcing the unshirted poor indoors or incinerating or demolishing their communities altogether. Fences have also been erected along roads leading from the airport to conceal urban poor shanties.”
“Marcos Jr. plans to impress his ASEAN guests with a barricaded reality, but there are not enough fences and demolitions that could hide the falsity, then badness and the ugliness of a society in crisis,” said Palabay. “KARAPATAN joins the people in calling for a stop to these patently anti-poor and cosmetic measures and demands that the government get its priorities straight and implement decisive actions to alleviate the people’s suffering amid this crisis,” Palabay concluded.
