Informal settlers to lose homes

Informal settlers in Metro Manila (Saiko3p / Shutterstock)

MANILA — An urban poor group on Tuesday said that around 1.4 million informal settlers will lose their homes in Metro Manila.

This is because of the implementation of the government’s Private-Public Partnership (PPP) programs, according to Kadamay in a report for the Philippine Star.

Kadamay noted that the demolition of houses are conducted to give way to big businesses under the PPP program.

The group said that five years after the implementation of the said program, at least 70,000 urban poor families have lost their homes and 98 settlers died in the demolitions.

It added that more families will be displaced in the implementation of more programs under the Aquino administration’s PPP scheme.

The most recent demolition in Sta. Mesa caused 98 families to lose their homes, according to Kadamay.

In a statement posted by the group in their blog, Estrelieta Bagasbas, National Vice Chair of Kadamay, said that the government failed to address the root of informal settling in the country.

Bagabas added that the administration should focus on the implementation of significant wage increase so that the poor can have the chance to have decent shelters.

“The implementation of a P16,000 national minimum wage for both the public and private sectors will allow the poor to avail themselves with basic social services, which the government should have provided its citizenry with in the first place,” Bagasbas said as quoted in the blog post.