Urban poor launched national campaign for HOUSE, got support of church

QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES – Some five hundred urban poor leaders gathered at the Quezon City Memorial Circle on 01 April 2009 to formally launch Kilos- Maralita or Kilusang Panlipunang Proteksyon para sa Maralita (Movement for Social Protection of the Poor), a broad urban poor alliance with almost 300 member organizations nationwide.

This broad alliance is a result of efforts of various urban poor organizations to create a united front against evictions and demolitions of informal housing settlements of the poor and to put forward their demand for humane housing and dignified living for the poor. Kilos-Maralita’s campaign aims to combine the struggle for housing rights with the struggle for a broad range of social protection measures in this time of global economic crisis. These measures include ensuring access of the poor to employment, livelihood, food, healthcare, education, water and electricity. Under the banner Kilos-Maralita, the urban poor aim to claim their right to the city and their right to active participation in governance.

At the launching, Kilos-Maralita presented the urban poor’s response to the crisis – genuine social protection measures for the poor –  and their action plan in pursuing their demands.

A reverberating chant at the launching was “HOUSE for the poor!”

“The demand does not only represent an abode, but HOUSE itself encapsulates the social protection measures that the urban poor assert especially in this period of economic crisis which on our assessment impacts heavily on the poor,” said Kilos-Maralita acting coordinator Von Mesina.

HOUSE stands for H – health service, O – on-site, in-city housing, U – unemployment insurance, S – subsidies for food, education, water and electricity, and E – employment guarantee,” Mesina added.

Topping the demands of Kilos-Maralita is P50 billion government allocation for humane and affordable housing for the poor.

Kilos-Maralita aims to push for the redirection of the government’s alleged P330 billion stimulus plan towards a program of building secure in-city housing and essential services for the urban poor.

“When the government provides humane housing for the poor, it is not simply spending for structures. It is actually investing on human and economic development since construction of houses is a labor-based intensive activity, thus requires as much human labor for construction of homes, roads and laying of pipes for water and electricity in the community. From the incomes these people shall receive, local and even national economy can be boosted.  People will have money to invest in other economic/financial activity,” elaborated social movements research and advocacy group Institute for Popular Democracy, which also acts as the Secretariat of Kilos-Maralita.

“The P50 billion for humane mass housing will result in 800 billion peso contribution to economic activity of the country,” claimed Mesina as he cited government figure saying that housing has 16x multiplier effect in the economy compared to road construction which only has around 2.2x.  “Constructing houses will stimulate the economy more than constructing roads,” added Mesina.

Members of the urban poor alliance doubted the sincerity of the administration to really help the poor. “GMA is only out to save herself from the possible political repercussion of the crisis, not to help the people in this period of crisis. She should consider our demand to prove that she has even an inch of sympathy to the poor,” lamented Nestor Yaranon a national council member of the National Urban Poor Coalition – a co-convener of Kilos-Maralita.

Meanwhile, Catholic Church’s Bishop Pabillo expressed support to the demands of Kilos-Maralita in a solidarity message he sent to the alliance. “Nakikiisa ako sa panawagan ng KILOS MARALITA na maglaan ng pera ang pamahalaan para sa pabahay ng maralitang taga-lunsod mula sa binabalak na Stimulus Fund (I am in solidarity with Kilos-Maralita in its call for the government to allocate funding for housing for urban poor from its proposed Stimulus Fund),” said Bishop Pabillo in his message.

“House is not only what the urban poor want,” reiterated Kilos-Maralita.  “We demand H.O.U.S.E now,” cried the alliance members at the launching.

H – health service for all through the expansion of PhilHealth membership and benefits; increase outreach of rural health units, medicines be provided for life-long diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, and pre-paid medicines in all public hospitals.

O – on-site development, in-city housing for the urban poor.  The people are naturally drawn to the city because this is where opportunities to have an adequate life can be found as a result also of uneven development in the country; instead of driving these poor people out of the city, the local and national governments must integrate them in the development planning in the city. Foremost, to give them land tenure, proclamations declaring parcels of lands for housing for the poor must be implemented immediately. There are also other options such as expropriation of lands or mortgage lands to the community where medium rise dwellings for commercial and residential use can be built.  The urban poor maybe homeless, but they are not worthless. They can be property developers or community builders.

U- unemployment insurance for Social Security System (SSS) members who are jobless and who are retrenched from work.  Same amount of loan should, at least, be accessed by all SSS members whether they are currently employed or unemployed; Those who have become unemployed should have no less access to income support compared to those who are still employed.

S – subsidies for education, food, water and electricity for poor households. All poor children of school age should be in school. They must be given food in school. Affordable rice for the poor must be continued while a minimum of 6 cubic meters of clean potable water must be accessed by poor families as this amount is the estimated minimum amount of water for a family of 5 to live. There must be no discrimination in access to electricity.

E – employment guarantee for the poor. This can be through the strict implementation of the labor-based equipment supported (LBES) program. This approach can at least double the number of people employed through infrastructure programs. Employment-on-demand or unsolicited proposals from poor communities should be funded, especially where the projects proposed have wage cost components that are at least 30 percent of project cost.

According to IPD, there are rules to be drafted to ensure that HOUSE is delivered to the poor.  “LGUs must draft implementing rules, they are at the frontlines of the unemployment crisis, they must be given a bigger role in the implementation of programs. LGUs’ call for the abolition of DPWH articulates their desire to play a bigger role in the delivery of frontline services. Congress must pass a law requiring Malacañang to consult Congress to report on the implementing rules and regulations of lump sum funds approved in the 2009 budget — this should be part of a bigger agenda for clipping the president’s power. NEDA-ICC rules must be followed to give people confidence that the funds will not be used for electioneering,” enumerated IPD Executive Director Jude Esguerra.

To seal their unity, urban poor leaders put their signatures on the streamers bearing the major demands of Kilos Maralita – “secure housing and dignified living for the poor” and “social protection for the poor now!”

The launch culminated in a torch parade. From the Quezon Circle Memorial Circle, the urban poor activists bearing bamboo torches marched to the National Housing Authority to expose the role of the agency in causing the demolition of urban poor informal housing and the relocation of the poor to resttlement areas far away from jobs and social services.

As they marched they chanted: “Moratorium sa Demolisyon, Ipaglaban! Philhealth coverage, family subsidy, palawakin! Trabaho, Pagkain at Serbisyo! On-site Development Tiyakin! North Triangle, NGC East, Ipaglaban!”

The urban poor broke in to the compound of the NHA and proceeded in front of the main entrance of the building where they held a short program.

Kilos-Maralita’s launch and torch parade were conducted in cooperation with the Institute for Popular Democracy, Asia-Europe People’s Forum-Secretariat for Asia, and the Global Call to Action against Poverty-Philippines.