Eight years ago, almost 80 percent of Metro Manila went under water after Tropical Storm “Ondoy” unloaded a month’s volume of rain in just six hours. Almost two million people were affected by the widespread flooding that killed hundreds, rendered thousands of families homeless, and caused a leptospirosis outbreak. Believing…
Comments closedAuthor: Gerald M. Nicolas
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…
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“Paano na ang Pasko? Pinatay na ang tatay ko (What will Christmas be like? My father has been killed),” said one placard at the “Panunuluyan ng Maralitang Tagalungsod,” an annual tradition of urban poor groups reenacting the search of Mary and Joseph for a place where Jesus might be born.…
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Dichotomies are rather popular lately. Filipino Catholics were recently dared to abandon a “hypocritical institution” because a “new religion” has emerged to bring about change, and the bandwagon leaves those who disagree; in short, continuity versus change. Wolf-whistling and catcalling are forms of compliment, a popular lawyer tells us, so…
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I was born exactly 30 days before Cory Aquino was sworn in as the president who would start the restoration of democracy after decades of tyranny. My mother told me she had wanted to go to Edsa, but she couldn’t for obvious reasons. I suspect, though, that faint-hearted that she…
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It was Mother’s Day. And while many scrambled to the malls not only to celebrate the special day but also to escape the blistering heat in their homes, more than a dozen mothers in Navotas spent it discussing a matter in which the welfare and future of their families are…
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I cannot help but cringe whenever people reduce an extremely complex social issue, such as a large number of poor families living in hazardous informal settlements, to a simplistic, unidimensional cause: an attitude problem. My response would be one of exasperation, especially when this reasoning comes from our so-called “public…
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In a coauthored book “On Heaven and Earth,” the future pope, then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, hit the nail on the head by offering an alternative understanding of the oft-abused and misused term “charity.” From a Catholic perspective, he says, “Christian charity is the love of God and neighbor. It…
Leave a Comment“So there are also squatters in Korea?” an urban poor mother and leader sitting beside me quipped in Filipino while looking at photos of so-called “vinyl houses” being flashed on the screen. (Some 4,900 families evicted from various places in Seoul occupy vacant spaces without permission and build shelters made…
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Urban poor commission needs a champion
Hopes rose among the urban poor when President Duterte declared, during his first month in office, that his administration would not treat them like dogs by allowing the demolition of their houses. If relocation cannot be avoided, he said, he would be “very generous” and ensure the presence of job-creating…