Noy suspends relocation of North Triangle squatters

MANILA, Philippines - Following a violent demolition, President Aquino yesterday directed Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. to suspend the relocation of informal settlers occupying the National Housing Authority (NHA) property in North Triangle, Quezon City.

“The relocation (of the informal settlers) is suspended until the NHA provides a comprehensive plan that will ensure orderliness in the implementation of relocation activities,” he said.

Ochoa said the President was saddened by the turn of events on Thursday and appealed to the informal settlers to exercise their right to oppose their transfer in a peaceful manner.

The President has ordered NHA chief Chito Cruz, a former classmate of his, “to ensure that any future relocation plan be implemented peacefully,” Ochoa said.

He said the President has instructed government authorities to exercise maximum tolerance to avoid any untoward incident that may arise from the demolition of shanties erected on the NHA property in Sitio San Roque II in North Triangle.

Though the relocation has been put on hold, the suspension does not cover families who have opted to be relocated voluntarily.

Some 6,000 families on the 340-hectare NHA lot are being transferred to a relocation site in Rodriguez, Rizal to give way to the housing agency’s plan to develop the North Triangle property into the Quezon City Business District.

So far, around 3,500 families have voluntarily moved to the new relocation site where they were provided houses, a relocation allowance of P6,000 and other support services, the housing agency said.

The NHA interagency committee is composed of the housing agency, the Commission on Human Rights, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Presidential Commission on the Urban Poor and the Quezon City government. The panel has conducted a series of dialogues with the residents to discuss their transfer to Rizal, the NHA said.

Families who would be displaced by the development project had been informed of the schedule for relocation last April and another notice was sent out this month, according to the NHA.

Secretary Corazon Soliman said the DSWD is ready to provide assistance to illegal settlers evicted from the North Triangle shantytown, if requested by the Quezon City government or the NHA.

Squatters want in-city relocation

Some shanty dwellers affected by Thursday’s demolition said they would voluntarily leave the area if they are relocated within Quezon City, their lawyer said yesterday.

Lawyer Jose Antonio Gallo, who represents the “Maralitang Nagkaisa ng Metroside San Roque, North Triangle,” said the informal settlers do not approve of the relocation site provided by the NHA. He cited reports the area does not have electricity and water.

He issued the demand following a hearing at the Quezon City regional trial court yesterday afternoon, during which he submitted a petition for an injunction to stop the demolition.

The city government said it should be the NHA that should address the demand. Mayor Herbert Bautista’s chief of staff, Aldrin Cuna, said “it’s not our call” to give the residents a relocation site because the NHA, not the city government, owns the disputed property.

Meanwhile, around 100 informal settlers trooped to the Aquino residence on Times street. They demanded the cancellation of the project to develop the area into a business district.

“Until this project is junked, the poor of Sitio San Roque will continue to be threatened with demolition,” the settlers, who identified themselves as the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap, said.

Another group, the Anakpawis North Triangle, said they will return again and again to Times street until the President acts on their demands: a livable relocation site complete with access to electricity and water, a hospital, a school, and livelihood for relocatees. – With Helen Flores, Reinir Padua, Jerry Botial