Priest, literacy group call for humane treatment of relocated informal settlers

MANILA, Philippines -  A Claretian priest and organizers of the Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library (Kris) opened up a community library at a resettlement site in Montalban, Rizal Friday with a call for the humane treatment of relocated victims of typhoon “Ondoy” and Metro Manila fires and demolitions.

Fr. Eduardo Apungan, head of the Claret Urban Poor Apostolate (CUPA), lamented that there is no serious effort on the part of the government to make resettlement areas livable, thus thousands of relocatees end up selling their units and returning to Metro Manila.

“These people have suffered so much from the deluge of typhoon ‘Ondoy,’ the loss of relatives and properties from fires, and trauma from forced demolitions. The least we can do is to help them resettle in far-flung places they can call home,” Apungan said during the opening of the library.

Armand Dean Nocum, founder of the non-government group Kris Peace Library, said recent figures from the National Housing Authority (NHA) show that it had earmarked P27.194 billion to relocate 125,265 families of informal settlers, who are also commonly called “squatters.”

“This 27.194 billion will just go down the drain… because there is no serious effort to make relocation areas attractive to previously urban-dwelling people,” Nocum said.

Apungan observed that in the resettlement site in Barangay San Isidro, 10,000 families who relocated there early this year remain without light, water and other basic facilities. In other areas, relocatees suffer from floods they had supposedly fled from in Manila.

CUPA and Kris Library put up the community library with the help of the Kapatirang Claretiano Inc. (KCI) – a group of Claretian ex-priests and seminarians co-founded by Nocum – to enable thousands of students in the resettlement community meet their educational needs even without computers and Internet-based information in the absence of electrical power.

Donors may bring books, school supplies and old computers to the Kris Library. They may call 3393732 or 09228169510 or check www.krislibrary.com for directions.