Holding tough to their right to live and work in the neighborhoods where they eked out their entire lives, urban poor residents of the Katuparan Housing Project trooped this morning to the headquarters of the National Housing Authority.
Accompanied by the Gabriela Women’s Party as their advocate, they pressed the public settlements agency to fast track its promise to carry out the long delayed tests to declare their row houses still fit for quake proofing before the feared quake render their 12 buildings unsafe. The residents fear plans by the
City of Manila to condemn the medium rise structures for which they are paying regular amortizations to the NHA.
“Kinakatigan ko ang kahilingan ng Katuparan residents sa NHA na madaliin na ang pangakong testing para pinal na madeklarang walang bisa ang deklarasyong condemned na mula sa City Building Inspector.
Leaders of the Gabriela chapter in Tondo who are leading the resident’ struggle for housing rights said that the NHA must also repair the buildings as part of its mandate to provide socialized housing for the poor and help strengthen their position against the City of Manila’s plans to evict them.
De Jesus said how NHA resolves the demands of the longtime residents of Tondo to keep them in the city is a test case of Aquino’s touted inclusive growth programs that supposedly channels the resources of the State accumulated after a few years of nominal GDP surpluses that economists say did not filter down for the benefit of the forgotten poor.
Newly installed NHA General Manager Atty Sinforoso Pagunsan acknowledged the plight of the Katuparan residents and assured the worried residents that the planned technical inspections will be started in October once the Department of Public Works and Highways makes available the needed machinery to begin the testing procedures.
Posted By: Lynne Pingoy
