The National Housing Authority (NHA) has decided to evict all the unauthorized occupants of housing units intended for the military, police and informal-settler families in Bulacan.
In a statement on Tuesday, the NHA said it issued eviction notices to members of Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) occupying 5,262 housing units in seven NHA project sites in the province. The NHA said the Kadamay members will have seven days upon receipt of the eviction notice to leave the housing units they occupied.
“We ask them to vacate the units and follow the housing procedures, like answering the housing information form, screening process and awarding/beneficiary selection,” NHA General Manager Marcelino P. Escalada Jr. said.
The housing units in the Pandi and San Jose del Monte resettlement sites that were occupied by Kadamay members were intended for low-salaried uniformed personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
The units are also intended for Metro Manila Informal Settler Families (ISFs) living along danger zones and waterways.
“In effect, their illegal occupation deprives the intended awardees of their right to government housing assistance,” NHA said. “We will never allow any mob rule and such act has no place in a civilized society.”
Escalada, however, said that the government, per President Duterte’s recent pronouncement, can finance housing units for Filipinos who need houses.
The NHA said that there were already 324 Kadamay members who have signed up for the HIF. The dialogue with the group will also continue.
“The NHA will come up with housing programs and projects appropriate to their needs with necessary budget from the National Government and we will advocate and aggressively pursue this for the funding in 2018 and beyond,” Escalada said.
On Tuesday, Kadamay members trooped to the NHA’s office and said their occupation of the “idle housing” in Bulacan was a statement against “corporatized socialized housing of which homeowners are also victims.”
Last year, Vice President and former Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council Chair Maria Leonor Robredo said housing units built for military and police personnel were becoming “white elephants” because of the poor construction.
Kadamay alleged that most of these housing units were constructed during the term of former President Aquino under his flagship P18.6-billion shelter program.
“The current substandard and idle state of housing is symptomatic of the housing crises which is still being ignored by the NHA and Malacanang. They feel that state terror will sweep the issue under the rug,” Kadamay Secretary General Carlito Badion said in a separate statement.
However, HUDCC Chair Leoncio B. Evasco Jr. said this is part of the government’s plan to immediately act on the housing needs of the poor. “We are sad it happened this way, yet let this be a reminder to government to act now and provide housing to those who need it the most.”
President Duterte labeled Kadamay’s action to occupy idle housing units in Pandi, Bulacan, as a form of anarchy, but the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) views the militant assertion as something else.
In a statement released on Tuesday, which the BusinessMirror was given a copy of, NAPC Secretary Liza Maza said the housing backlog, caused by the failure of the housing programs of past administrations, has already escalated into a humanitarian crisis. “There is an urgent need for a comprehensive and free mass-housing program to guarantee the right to decent shelter for the poor,” the NAPC chief was quoted saying.
She added evicting more informal settlers will further worsen the problem. “I encourage the concerned agencies not to resort to the ways of the past administrations and find solutions that are truly responsive to the needs of the poor.”
She revealed that the people are actually willing to volunteer one day per week to construct new housing units. This proposal, for Maza, is a win-win solution—both for the implementing housing agencies and the informal settlers—to the crisis.
Kadamay members trooped to the NHA office and subsequently to Malacanang to join various youth groups against the government’s increased militarism, which they say has also targeted urban poor Filipinos.
“The move to occupy idle housing is a statement against the corporatized socialized housing of which homeowners are also victims. We struggle for all urban poor Filipinos and call on them to join the campaign for free and mass housing. Instead of catering to the demands of the people, the NHA is taking cue from President Duterte’s All Out War by attempting to resolve the concerns of the poor with violence,” Badion said.
With Catherine Maglalang, Elijah Felice Rosales