Choosing to be poor
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| Larry Faraon, OP |
I really don’t know if upgrading the terminology from “squatters” to “informal settlers” really changed the culture of squatting in most of our urban areas. Or it would seem that the shift from the negative to the positive nomenclature only encouraged further potential squatters to “rise and fight” for their “constitutional right of shelter” and habitation. However, since the inception of the social problem of squatting has already skipped my memory, being a protracted social ugly horn protruding from an otherwise bullish urban development, squatting has become a culture. Indeed, it has become a choice.
Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista forwarded a rustic solution of “balik-probinsiya” to the informal settlers in his turf only to find out that the urban squatters are of the third and even fourth generation whose rural roots and living are just simple stories to tell from their old folks. These third generation squatters have already been “rooted” in the shanties their forefathers have illegally built in unoccupied or idle spaces, atop esteros, along river banks or even on easements of formal residences and street pavements. With a pejorative encouragement from the politics of patronage and an aggressive tap from the leftists and pro-poor advocates and a doting government’s regular dole-outs and inefficient handling of the social nuisance, protracted squatting or sheltering informally has become almost a choice..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120115com6.html
1 comment
wala raw kasing hanapbuhay sa paglilipatan. pang-tatlo o pang-apat na saling.lahi na pala ang mga squatters. pero hindi rin tamang udyukan sigurong lumaban ng sobra.
"Unfortunately, the choice to be poor has developed into a full human right where the squatters are prodded by “advocates” to fight tooth and nail for such rights. Video clips of the Corazon de Jesus relocation efforts in San Juan City would attest to how the residents attacked the relocation team with Molotov bombs, rocks and sharp objects...
This “choice” is evidenced further by their obdurate refusal to be relocated to a more humane and dignified environment. Take for instance the relocation offer of San Juan City government for the Corazon de Jesus settlers: A 30-square meter low cost house and lot in South Ville, Bgy. San Isidro Rodriguez Rizal (formerly, Montalban) with a little garden in front at a cost of almost a token amount of P170 a month to be paid in 25 years commencing a year after the relocation. There is electricity and water, a drainage system, hospital, police station, market and a church."
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