The scene below captured, by the media, speaks a million words.

The campers staged a camp at NHA as a last resort to make government make good its promise to abide by the Urban Development and Housing Act (R.A. 7279).

The issue of R10 in Navotas is about implementation of a road widening project without considering the welfare of people to be displaced by the project. The struggle of the people of Navotas has been a long lonely story.  The R10-Navotas People's Organization is assisted by COPE Foundation, a partner of CO Multiversity in the Tricorp group of NGOs advocating for Urban Poor land and housing rights and basic social services entitlements.

The People's Immediate Call:

1) Immediate relocation to a site that complies with the requirements of RA 7279

2) Hold DPWH and NHA accountable for what happened to the Urban Poor

Below is a solidarity letter to the R-10 Navotas residents who have been violently evicted recently.

March 19, 2010

Her Excellency
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Republic of the Philippines
Malacanang Palace
JP Laurel Street, San Miguel
Manila NCR 1005

Dear Madam President:

I am writing to you today to express great concern on behalf of Leaders and Organizers of Community Organizations in Asia (LOCOA) in regard to the violent forced evictions that have been executed in Novotas due to the R10 road-widening project. We have been informed that on 18-20 January, and then resuming again earlier this month on 4 March, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Novotas City government carried out the illegal demolition of 393 households. Moreover, while attempting to protect their families and community from this illegal act, many of the residents, including several elderly women, suffered injuries as a result of being targeted by water cannon, beaten by the police, and arrested.

Because no provision was made for the resettlement of the affected families, many of them have now become homeless, with no alternative other than to erect basic lean-tos alongside the R10 for shelter. However, refusing to be intimidated by the use of violence against them, some of the families have been demonstrating in front of DPWH in Port Area, Manila, to demand their legal right to adequate relocation. Indeed, it is precisely due to the absence of measures to provide adequate relocation for the affected families that the entire demolition was illegal, violating both Philippine national law (Republic Act 7279) and international human rights law (i.a., International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and CESCR General Comment 7).

Besides being deeply disturbed by the violence used against community residents and the clear violations of the law involved in demolishing their homes, LOCOA is particularly saddened because we understand that during a meeting with their leaders on 1 August 2008 in Malacanang, you yourself actually consented to their request for relocation to Montalban (Rodriguez) Municipality and promised to provide them with funds for housing and lot development. Now, instead of being able to realize the promise of a better future, an illegal forced eviction has cast these 393 families into homelessness and even greater depths of deprivation.

In order to halt the perpetuation of further injustice, LOCOA urges you to listen to the voices of the affected families and comply posthaste with their demands. Concretely, we call on you to take the following steps:

1) Put an end to all further illegal evictions and demolitions.

2) Instruct the DPWH and other relevant agencies, including the National Housing Authority and the Urban Development Coordinating Council, to relocate the R10 families to Montalban in accordance with their expressed desire, as well as the commitment you made to them on 1 August 2008.

3) Have the Commission on Human Rights take the lead in investigating the circumstances and individuals involved in the violent demolition, and ensure that all guilty parties are punished.

Yours sincerely,

Jeff Wong

Coordinator, Anti-Eviction Committee

cc: Hon. Victor A. Domingo
Acting Secretary, and
Hon. Manuel M. Bonoan
Senior Under Secretary
Department of Public Works and Highways

Hon. Tobias Reynaldo M. Tiangco
Mayor of Navotas City

Hon. Leila M. De Lima
Chairperson
Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines

Ms. Raquel Rolnik
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing

What happens to society when 393 houses of poor people are demolished? Do people in corridors of power understand how it is to live under the stars, cold and hungry, angry, afraid and despondent? How about the children? The elderly? What happens to them?

A society is known in the way it treats the poor. Ideally, there should be no poor people  if our discourse is on the realms of social justice and compassion.

But why should this thing about destroying people's homes without clear options for families who are rendered homeless happen in a society that trumpets itself as a believer in democracy; as the only Christian nation in Asia; as the pearl of the orient seas?

Right now, 393 families are camping in front of the DPWH in Navotas. What do we mean by accountable governance? What do politicians mean when they promise to take with them the dreams of the poor?

The air is filled with election promises. What happens to these 393 families? Is their no more room for truth in the mouth of our public servants?

What happened to the Urban Development and Housing Act? Will it just remain sheets of paper?

What happens to the social justice provision in the constitution? Are they mere shadows of spittle in the collective mouth of our society?

What happened to our elected officials? Why don't they listen to the tax payers?

Why?