Kadamay housing project protests
| Kadamay housing project protests | |
|---|---|
| Part of protests against Rodrigo Duterte | |
| Date | March 8 — April 4, 2017 (27 days) |
| Location | Pandi, Bulacan, Philippines |
| Methods | House occupation, protests, picketing, trespassing |
| Resulted in | Kadamay members eventually occupied the house as announced by President Rodrigo Duterte on April 4, 2017 |
| Information | |
| Detained |
April 3: 80 (37 person charged of trespassing) May 1: 1 |
In early March 2017, thousands of members of the progressive groupKalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay, 'Federation of Mutual Aid for the Poor') and other informal settlers occupied an idle housing project of the National Housing Authority (NHA), in Pandi, Bulacan in the Philippines.
Of the housing units in the Pandi site, 538 were awarded specifically to Philippine National Police personnel. Utilities such as water and electricity are not yet available in some housing units. As of March 2017, 1,848 out of 9,128 houses were completed by the National Housing Authority (NHA).
On March 8, Kadamay, an urban poor group, led an occupation of about 5,000 pending housing units in five relocation sites in Bulacan. Members of Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) vowed to defend their barricades and occupation of these idle government housing sites and units. They appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to heed their calls. Police reported that about 5,000 pay for rally individuals reportedly occupied the housing units in Pandi Residences 3, Pandi Village 2 and Padre Pio. The National Housing Authority (NHA) stated that 4,000 housing units in the area were invaded by the informal settlers. Kadamay said this was to protest against the failure of the Duterte administration and the housing authorities to provide shelters in the area.
On March 13, a group of families, composed of 500-1,000 members, occupied the housing units in Bulacan. Duterte warned that homeless settlers must follow the law or he would be forced to remove them from the site. Duterte labelled the occupation by Kadamay as "anarchy". League of Filipino Students (LFS) national spokesperson JP Rosos condemned Duterte for stating what Kadamay did was anarchy.
On March 14, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) told Duterte that the occupation of government housing units was not anarchy. On March 16, the NHA officials processed 160 housing applications from families who occupy the idle units in Pandi.
On March 20, Kadamay members attacked the front gates of the NHA in Quezon City, protesting the eviction notices against the occupation on idle housing units. Kadamay Chairman Gloria Arellano lambasted the PNP, whom it called "fear-mongering" in response to the occupation. Meanwhile, on March 21, about 15 Kadamay members attempted to enter the housing units in Rodriguez, Rizal but were foiled by the police.
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Wikipedia