On Feb. 14, 2019, President Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. 11201 creating the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development. The new law did not create much buzz, as it did not substantially alter the powers, policies and programs of the government agencies charged with responding to the…
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Drawing on the thought of Belgian Cardinal Joseph Cardijn, Pope John XXIII, in his 1961 encyclical Mater et Magistra, proffers a process of reading and responding to what he would later call in Pacem in Terris as “signs of the times” in light of the principles of Catholic social teaching…
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As expected, none of the reelectionist senators who voted for the approval of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law included it in their list of accomplishments that they now boast about in their campaign ads. Who would want to be associated with a law that is partly…
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One of the infrastructure projects in the government’s “Build, build, build” program which is certain to bring great relief to commuters and travelers is the North-South Railway Project. The South line consists of a 68-kilometer commuter line that will run between Tutuban in Manila and Los Baños in Laguna and…
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INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS are a glaring manifestation of poverty and inequality amid the growth and prosperity brought by urbanization, the spatial concentration of diverse populations and economic activities. Meeting the housing need of informal settlers, who make up a significant proportion of the urban population, has been and remains a daunting…
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On September 15, 2017, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of Ateneo de Manila University’s Loyola Schools and JJCICSI hosted a roundtable discussion on “Climate Change Policies Without Eviction”. The roundtable discussion brought together NGO practitioners to share the issues and concerns of urban informal settlers in areas affected (or…
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JJCICSI joined the annual “Kalbaryo ng Maralita (Calvary of the Poor)” staged on Holy Tuesday, April 11, by various urban poor groups with their partner NGOs, the Urban Poor Associates (UPA) and Community Organizers Multiversity (COM). Led by urban poor community members carrying crosses representing the issue adversely affecting the sector, thousands of participants marched from Plaza Miranda to the…
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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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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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Victims of fire and social neglect
Market 3, a densely populated community on a small block of land inside the Navotas Fish Port, is no stranger to tragedies, like the fire that swept through the homes of more than 700 families before the day broke on Oct. 18. When I visited the area to hand to…