As of this writing, thousands of members of the urban poor group Kadamay (Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap) are occupying idle units in the housing projects of the National Housing Authority (NHA) in Pandi, Bulacan. If their intention was to get public attention, no one can say that they failed. They…
Leave a CommentTag: Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA)
The creation of a Department of Housing and Urban Development (House Bills 449, 1518, 1721, 3375, 3639, 5114) is an opportunity for transforming our presently anarchic urban development processes and improving the efficiency and quality of government housing programs and services. Unfortunately, the proposed bills leave much to be desired…
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The violent demolition inside the Laperal compound in Guadalupe, Makati was not a simple clash between informal settlers (often characterized as law breakers) and the local government, supposedly the implementers of law. Many sympathized with the residents left homeless–first by a fire, then by the local government’s demolition crew. On the…
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The Urban Poor ‘Kalbaryo’
Watch out! The train is coming!” yelled the crowd of urban poor clustered around the railroad tracks by the España station. It was Holy Week and seven cross-bearers were kneeling on the tracks to protest government policies threatening their already precarious existence. They scrambled to get out of the train’s…