Last Friday’s fire, which left more than 5,000 people homeless, is supposedly to make way for another Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project: the modernization of the Manila North Harbor by a consortium of companies led by presidential relative Danding Cojuangco’s San Miguel Corporation and Petron.

According to Charisse Bañez, national secretary-general of Anakbayan, some residents received forewarning that their homes would be torched, enabling them to pack their belongings. Most of them, however, were forced to abandon their possessions due to the very swift spread of the flames.

This view was bolstered when residents, who could no longer stand the cramped and unhygienic conditions of the Del Pan Stadium in Tondo where they are temporarily residing in, sought to build temporary shelters on the ashes of their former homes. They were forbidden by armed guards posted by the Manila City Hall to leave the stadium.

The fire victims were reportedly told that an area stretching 15 meters from the coastline into their community would be designated as a ‘danger zone’, meaning all houses in that area would be demolished and that rebuilding would be forbidden.
“The so-called ‘danger zone’ will most likely be used as an expansion of the North Harbor” said the youth leader.

Deception

Bañez meanwhile branded the relocation site offered by the Manila LGU as a ‘cruel joke’.

Gaya-gaya in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, is also one of the relocation sites offered to the residents of another community resisting demolition attempts and the PPP: San Roque in Quezon City. Due to the site being already crowded, only 200 families would be offered (or an estimated 1000 people) would actually be relocated.

“In the government’s haste to break down the resistance of the people of Isla Putting Bato, they do not care if many are left homeless as only a few will actually be relocated. Where will the rest go if they are forbidden to rebuild their houses?” she said.

The national youth group Anakbayan held a picket-protest in front of the Department of Budget and Management office this morning. Said organization of young workers, peasants and employees, students, out of school and urban poor youth called for greater government spending on education and social services as DBM kicked off hearings for the 2013 national budget.

Anakbayan slammed DBM’s recent statement that the country has “successfully upped” its credit ratings, which according to them allows us to access more affordable foreign financing at better terms, through expenditure reforms initiated by the Aquino administration.

“We should be reminded, that despite this administration claim, the 2012 national budget in its entirety was skewed against common Filipinos, and in favor of big foreign banks, businesses, investment corporations and institutions like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank”, said Vencer Crisostomo, Anakbayan National Chairperson.

The youth group said that while Aquino boasted of P568.8 billion for all social services combined, debt servicing alone received P738 billion, a whopping 40% of the entire 2012 budget.

“He could have doubled funding for education, health and housing last year but chose to channel two-fifths of the people’s money to global loan sharks—the IMF-WB and ADB among others”, Crisostomo retorted.

“He gave huge chunks of the national budget to big corporations, in the form of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects, to the blood-thirsty human rights violators—the military—and even corrupt government officials”, he added.

P22 billion was allocated for PPPs, which were intended to essentially privatize vital social services and infrastructures like roads, rail and expressways, schools and hospitals. P109 billion meanwhile went to the military and the Office of the President received an ‘unprogrammed and non-auditable fund’ of P161 billion. State universities and colleges (SUCs) on the other hand received a P583 million cutback.

The youth group also assailed DBM’s so-called “Bottom-up” approach in the 2013 budgetting process, “a pioneer and breakthrough in our government’s history” according to Budget Secretary Abad.

Anakbayan said that the government will only use those consultations conducted in the country’s poorest 300 municipalities to legitimize the continuous spending on Aquino’s “magic bullet” and “solution” to the country’s economic problems such as the flagship PPP projects and Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program. It will deceive the people into believing that these will lift tens of millions of poor Filipinos from their poverty.

“Aquino’s portrayal of Philippine reality is very far from the truth. He has resorted to a rehash of lies and exaggerations that the CCT and PPP, which ate a huge chunk of the country’s budget last year, have reduced poverty and boosted economic growth when it has not, when it actually failed and aggravated further already existing problems”, Crisostomo said.

“Now the government still wants to pursue these poor foundations for progress in crafting the 2013 budget and went as far as earmarking funds for already proven to be anti-people policies like the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER)”, he quipped.

Contrary to the “bottom-up” approach which was intended to be “people-centric” and for the “reduction of average unemployment, hunger and poverty”, the DBM has set budget ceilings on education, health and other social and economic services. These are far lower than that of national defense and military spending and farther than what is actually needed by the education, health and agricultural sector (see attached annex).

“Aquino will again streamline spending on basic social and economic services whereas military spending will receive more and debt servicing an automatic appropriation”, Crisostomo said.

“The way DBM and Aquino are going, we are bound to expect that the 2013 national budget will be no different from last year’s—still blatantly anti-people. And so we, the youth and people, will be fiercer than last year. We guarantee the government that our protests will be bigger and more intense, much more than last year’s strikes and December campout”, Crisostomo ended. ###

“On top of the seemingly chronic problems faced by Filipino workers such as unemployment, contractualization, and insufficient wages, young workers and fresh graduates are encountering even worse conditions” said Vencer Crisostomo, national chairperson of the youth group Anakbayan.

“The Filipino youth is too smart to believe the Aquino administration which has resorted to manufacturing ‘data’ to cover-up the ugly labor conditions in the country today” he said, referring to a recent conference in which deputy presidential spokesperson Abi Valte presented wrong calculations to counter demands for a P125 wage hike.

According to Anakbayan, among the highlights of the situation of young workers are:

- Youths are more likely to be unemployed than their older counterparts. In the Dept. of Labor’s latest Labor Force Survey, 48.9% of all unemployed Filipinos, or 1.43 million, belonged to the 15-24 year age bracket. The unemployment rate for the said bracket is at 16%, more than twice the national average of 7.2%, meaning 16 out of every 100 work-capable youths do not have jobs.

- A college education does not guarantee as a third of all unemployed Filipinos, or 910 thousand, are either college graduates or undergraduates. Combined with the number of high school graduates, they comprise a whole 77% of all unemployed.

- Rampant contractualization affects young workers, especially in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry where almost all employees are in the below 35 year old age bracket. It is estimated that 58% of all workers, or six out of every ten, are contractual and suffer from various abuses associated with contractualization.

- Young workers are also affected by low wages. While the various minimum wages are not enough to meet families’ needs (for example, the rate in Metro Manila is pegged at P426 while the daily cost of living is at P1,008), many capitalists still violate the law. According to the Dept. of Labor, almost 20% of companies in the Philippines do not follow the Minimum Wage Law.

Meanwhile, Crisostomo outlined a set of May Day demands by Anakbayan to the Aquino administration:

- Generation of sufficient, decent jobs through the development of local industries and genuine agrarian reform

- A significant wage hike to give workers and their families some much-needed relief from rising prices, such as the legislated wage increase in Congress in the form of House Bill 375

- Crackdown on the practice of contractualization, especially in the BPO sector

- Controlling and rolling back prices of basic commodities and services, such as petroleum and electricity

- An end to all demolitions, which almost always targets workers’ communities

Anakbayan is demanding that the government address the high unemployment among youths (especially among fresh college graduates), an end to the practice of contractualization, and ‘meaningful’ wage hike in the face of successive oil price and power rate hikes.

“In usual Noynoy fashion, he will be making a lot of announcements with little or no significance: job fairs, consultations with ‘yellow’ labor leaders, etc. But we are sure he will be silent on the things that matter for most workers, especially youths: real generation of jobs, an end to contractualization, a meaningful wage hike, and price controls” said Vencer Crisostomo, national chairperson of Anakbayan.

According to the latest government Labor Force Survey, the unemployment rate for youths aged 15 to 24 years is 16%, double the nationwide average unemployment rate. Out of the 9.7 million unemployed Filipinos, 4.74 million belong to the above-mentioned age bracket. 31% of all the unemployed are college graduates.

Contractualization is especially rampant in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in which the majority of all employees are youths, or below the age of 35 years. This allows employers to hire and then fire workers after a few months. This also allows call centers to violate standard labor rights.

“To hope that Aquino will grant a meaningful wage hike, or support the legislated P125 increase, is hoping for the impossible. They are simply rehashing their claims that our economy cannot support such an increase without even bothering to provide their fake data” said the youth leader.
Anakbayan and other youths will assemble tomorrow in front of the University of Sto. Tomas at 10am. They will join the contingents of union members, urban poor, and jeepney drivers as they march by from other points in Manila en route to Plaza Miranda. ###

The youth group Anakbayan has put the responsibility for Monday’s bloody demolition in Paranaque, which left at least one dead and 30 other residents wounded, in the hands of President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III for his administration’s refusal to solve the societal roots of the so-called ‘informal settler’ phenomenon.

“‘Informal settlers’ are the offspring of rural and urban poverty. Landlessness and landlord exploitation forces millions of farmers and peasants to seek greener pastures in the cities. But with high prices and the lack of decent jobs awaiting them in urban areas, they have no choice but to become ‘informal settlers’” said Vencer Crisostomo, national chairperson of Anakbayan

He said “These problems have plagued millions of Filipinos for decades, and the former continues to persist until this very day”.

The day after the Paranaque demolition, the Supreme Court ruled for the total distribution of Hacienda Luisita to its 6,000+ farm workers, more than two decades after snail-paced government efforts to supposedly put it under agrarian reform. Critics have repeatedly assailed the Cojuangco-Aquino-owned estate as symbol of the current and previous administrations’ failures to implement genuine land reform.

“Millions have no land in the countryside, and they remain landless in the cities” said Crisostomo.

The youth leader blamed the lack of decent jobs and low wages as a major factor in the seemingly unending phenomenon of ‘urban poverty’.

Earlier this year, an SWS survey that the number of unemployed Filipinos has risen to 9.7 million, or double the amount recorded in 2011. Official labor statistics show that out of every 100 youths in the labor force, 16 are unemployed, more than double the national average.

In addition, even those with jobs suffer from low wages and lack of job security. Government data shows that a whole 20% of all companies in the Philippines violate the Minimum Wage Law, while 56% of all Filipino workers are contractual. Also, the minimum wage (pegged at P426 in Metro Manila) is less than 50% of the daily minimum of cost of living for an average family (P1,008).

“Most of the residents of these communities are workers. If they could afford decent housing, they would. But the thing is, they can’t. Not with those inhumane wages they are paid with” added Crisostomo. ###

Silverio demolition: One dead, scores injured as police forces open fire on resisting residents in Paranaque

A resident was shot dead and more than 30 injured, many by gunfire, as police forces demolished homes and several commercial establishments in Silverio Compound, Paranaque City, April 23.

News video footages and documentation by citizen media groups showed members of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) armed with M16 rifles firing indiscriminately as they dipersed residents who formed a human barricade to try to stop police and demolition teams. Also shown were scores being arrested, bloodied and beaten up even as they were already in the custody of the police.

“Bato lang po at mga katawan namin ang aming pangdepensa sa aming mga bahay, pero tinapatan nila kami ng mga sniper at mahahabang baril,” said the residents.

After several rounds of volley gunfire, Arnel Leonor Tolentino, 21 was confirmed dead by gunshot on the head and several others also shot in vital areas are in critical condition. Not a few residents have gunshot wounds in their arms and legs, some as young as 15-16 years old.

Ready for battle

“Naghihimagsik ang aming kalooban sa karahasan na ginawa sa amin ng gubyerno. Alam namin na pupunta sila para gibain ang mga bahay namin, yung barikada at mga bato ay para ipagtanggol ang aming bahay. Pero bakit sila nambaril, bakit kinailangan nilang pumatay?” said Shella Bernal, a community leader in Silverio.

According to Bernal, truckloads of police and SWAT personnel came early in the morning and was clearly geared for battle.

“Yung iba sa kanila, hindi naman taga-Paranaque yun. May mga snipers pa sa taas ng building,” said the residents.

Congressman Edwin Olivares and former Congressman Ed Zialcita, seeking to prevent a violent confrontation also helped negotiate and mediate between the police and residents.

“Hindi mapakiusapan ang mga pulis na ‘yun. Alam mo kapag kakaiba ang tapang nila eh, hindi sila nasisindak man lang. Nagnenegotiate na nga kami, eh bigla naman silang nag-teargas. Yun na,” said Zialcita.

Various accounts from residents, negotiators and media confirm that tensions rose when the police shot teargas canisters at the barricade. Residents threw the canisters back at the police and hurled stones to keep the police away from the barricade. Then, shots were fired by the SWAT team aiming at the residents.

‘Blank bullets’

“Dalawa agad yung bumulagta nung unang nagkaputukan eh. Marami yung tinamaan sa binti at paa,” said Bernal.

Arnel Leonor Tolentino, 21 was seen lying on the pavement and was later confirmed dead by gunshot.

“Yung katabi ko, si Raymond Aquino, asawa nung chaiwoman ng vendors assouciation, sa dibdib tinamaan, parang patay na eh,” said Roy Velez of Anakpawis NCR. Aquino was initially among those reported dead but was later found in the hospital in critical condition.

Among those shot was Rodman Ortega, a 16 year-old resident, which was shot in the right arm which shattered his bone.

“Pinauwi ko na nga siya, kasi baka madamay pa nga. Patawid lang daw siya at bigla siyang tinamaan sa braso. Pag-uwi nya parang nakahandusay na at duguan. Kaya pinuntahan ko nga yung mga pulis at pinagmumura ko eh. Wala naman kaming baril, bato lang, bakit kami ginanon,” said his father.

According to his father, Ortega was refused treatment by a nearby hospital after failing to pay P15,000. Medics from people’s organizations which conducted a fact-finding mission later attended to him.

Paranaque City Mayor Jun Bernabe and police forces later claimed that only “blank bullets” were used.

Arbitrary arrests

The police later made random arrests, video footages showed plainclothesmen apprehending what appeared to be minors, passersby and some women. Videos also showed bloodied residents already handcuffed but still being beaten up by the police. A total of 33 were arrested, 8 of them minors and 2 women.

According to the residents, after the police managed to enter the community and conduct the demolition of their talipapa, they raided houses, rounded-up men and arrested residents.

“Nagsona sila, binahay-bahay nila at aarestuhin daw lahat ng kalalakihan, kaya marami ang nagtago, hindi din makalabas at makapagpagamot yung may mga sugat. Nahirapan din kumuha ng impormasyon,” said Velez.

Velez had to be wrapped in bedsheets and pretend that he is sick in order to get out to report to people’s organizations what transpired and seek help.

‘Development’ plan

According to the reports, the 9.7 hectare Silverio Compound, home to at least 28,000 families is set to be demolished to pave the way for the construction of condominiums and commercial establishments owned by billionaire Henry Sy, owner of SM Development Corporation (SMDC).

Yesterday, as the news of the violent demolition rages, an “officialsmdc” twitter account was created to tweet denials that SM owns the lot and that is is planning to build condominiums in the area. SM also released advertisments to deny links to the demolition.

However, in government documents obtained by the residents, SMDC is indicated as a “housing development partner.”

Incidentally, a SM Hypermarket supermarket stands directly accross the compound.

“Dinemolish nila yung talipapa kasi kompetisyon sa katawid na SM. Pero simula pa lang yan kasi ang plano nila katabi na ng supermarket yung mga condo at commercial complex,” said one of the residents.

The residents say the demolition of the “talipapa” will affect the livelihood of more than 1,000 small vendors and fishermen in Silverio. Besides, they said, these “commercial” establishments are also residential areas.

“Naglagay lang ng lamesa sa labas, pero sa loob may nakatira,” they said.

Mayor Bernabe said there will be no relocation for the homes already demolished.

Bernabe, in his interviews, have confirmed the plan to commercialize the lot. He was quoted in the media saying that the lot will be used for commercial and income generating purposes for the city. He also said the demolition is to pave the way for a plan to build a medium rise housing project to accomodate some 1,800 families (out of the 28,000) using 3 hectares of the compound, the rest will be subject to commercial use.

Not squatters

This however, is contrary to the plan the Paranaque government originally intended for the compound.

The compound has earlier been placed by the local government for distribution to residents through the Community Mortgage Program. In 2003, a city ordinance have been issued to expropriate the land to be distributed. A deposit of P10 million have reportedly already been paid by the goverment for the residents.

“Ang aming paglaban ay makatwiran sapagkat ang lupa ng Silverio ay inilaan para sa mga taga Silverio Compound at hindi para kay Henry Sy at mga negosyante,” said a statement from Kadamay Paranaque.

In fact, residents said, the legal battle now pending in the courts is only regarding how much compensation the local government will pay the previous land owners and how much the residents are set to pay.

To their surprise, a few months ago, the local government has started announcing plans to partner with SMDC to build condominium units. Rumors circulated that SMDC had already paid a hefty sum of money as “downpayment.” Last March 7, the local government started the demolition of commercial areas and homes near the highway.

“Tuyo nga ang ulam namin eh, magcocondo pa kami? Sana isipin nila yung kapakanan ng tao, hindi ng mayayaman na,” said an angry resident.

A sign put up outside one of the houses said “Hindi kami squatters, babayaran namin ang lupang ito.”

The residents said they tried to dialogue with the Mayor and the city government and held several rallies in front of the city hall to no avail.

“Palibhasa last term na ni Mayor, malapit na magretire, siguro nag-iipon na yan. Lupa na para sa tao, ninegosyo pa,” said a resident.

On April 10, 2012, a notice to demolish Purok 1 and 4 was served to the residents. On April 19, a city council resolution signed by majority of the councilors and the vice mayor seeking to stop the demolition was reportedly drafted and was submitted to the mayor.

Bernabe refused to implement the resolution and the demolition pushed through.

‘Massacre-prone’

Various groups including Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), Makabayan Coalition, Anakbayan, Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY), Anakpawis, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and Karapatan condemned the murder and the violent demolition. BAYAN led a fact-finding, first aid and solidarity mission to Silverio compound after the incident.

“There should be no whitewash regarding the incident, and there should be an independent, speedy investigation on the matter. The violence against the urban poor must be stopped, those arrested must be freed immediately,” said Bayan.

The groups noted that while what happened was one of the worst cases of violence against urban poor, this is not the first time something like this has happened under the administration of Benigno Aquino III. According to Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, more than 40 cases of violent demolitions have been documented under Aquino.

“Mas marami pang mga ganito dahil sa programa ng gubyerno para sa ‘kaunlaran’ kuno pero para sa lang sa mga crony at iilang mayayaman. Para sa mahirap ang Aquino PPP ang ibig sabihin: pagpatay, panunupil at pambubusabos,” said Mariano.

According to KADAMAY, the Aquino administration’s programs encourage these “violent, heartless acts against the poor.” The systematic and widespread demolition of urban poor communities show the anti- poor, pro-elite character of the current administration.

KMU notes: “This reminds us of a term used during the elections to describe a Noynoy Aquino government: ‘massacre prone.’”

Pinoy Weekly notes that the reign of impunity under Aquino has emboldened the shooters: “Wala siyang takot, alam niyang hindi siya pagpapanagutin. Sa ilalim ng administrasyong Aquino, standard operating procedure na lamang ang pamamaril sa mga sibilyan.”

Fight continues

The residents of Silverio are anticipating another wave of demolition activities in the next few weeks.

“Hinahabol nila yung eleksyon, baka sunigin nila kung hindi nila sa susunod kaya dapat magbantay,” said a resident.

In a solidarity program held after the demolition, various sectors expressed their support to the community and called on the people to continue the fight “oppression and corporate greed” and
struggle for their right for decent homes, jobs and genuine social change.

The sentiment expressed by the people in the program was unanimous: the fight continues.

No amount of lies, repression and state terror from Bernabe, Sy or Aquino will stop them from further strengthening their ranks and defending their homes; not only for the sake of the current residents of Silverio compound, but also for all the poor people being murdered, oppressed and robbed of their rights, and in the name of those who died struggling for a better future. ###

(This article was originally written for, and published in Blogwatch.ph)