Estero dwellers victims of gov’t neglect in flood control’ – youth solon by Jun 25, 2013 11:58am HKT YOUTH groups led by Kabataan Partylist trooped to the Napolcom-DILG Building in Quezon City at around 12 noon to denounce the government’s “systematic blaming and harassment” of urban poor settlers living near waterways or esteros throughout Metro Manila. Kabataan Partylist Rep. Terry Ridon called the Aquino administration’s plan to demolish homes of over 100,000 families living near major waterways a “PR job meant to cover-up the government’s long-term neglect in flood control.” “Estero dwellers are the victims rather than the major cause of intensified flooding. It is a grave injustice to make the downtrodden suffer by serving as the government’s convenient scapegoat for its neglect on flood control,” Ridon said. “Various scientific studies show that the main cause of intensified flooding are urban land development, excessive groundwater extraction, and useless multibillion flood control programs – not estero dwellers,” Ridon explained. In a 2006 study done by UP Professors Kelvin Rodolfo and Fernando Siringan, it was shown that excessive use of groundwater which causes land in Metro Manila to gradually sink is a major contributor to the worsening flooding. According to the researchers “it is much easier to blame flooding on visible causes such as fishponds and slums encroaching on estuaries, and the choking of drainages by water hyacinths and garbage” than actually address the issue of land subsidence. The researchers also pointed out that several multimillion flood control projects constructed by the government are not serving their purpose and have only become sources of large-scale corruption. “Driven by the three- and six-year election cycles, government efforts favor short-term contingencies over efficacy, and are largely ‘palliative’—soothing the anxious public with projects that accomplish little,” the researchers said. “Instead of scientifically addressing the issue of intensifying floods in Metro Manila, it seems that the government is content with putting all the blame to estero dwellers while continuing inefficient flood control projects that are major sources of funds for corrupt politicians,” Ridon said. The youth solon also criticized the government’s plan to offer an P18,000 “rental subsidy” for informal settlers to move out of waterways. “Apart from being a ridiculous stop-gap offer, the P18,000 rental subsidy may prove to be a scheme aimed at circumventing the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992,” Ridon said. While Republic Act 7279 or the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992 allows the eviction or demolition of houses occupying danger areas such as esteros, railroad tracks and waterways, the law also states that resettlement areas that take into consideration “the degree of availability of basic services and facilities, their accessibility and proximity to job sites and other economic opportunities” should be identified for displaced citizens. “RA 7279 compels the government to give displaced citizens decent resettlement. In this light, the P18,000 subsidy looks as if it is a cheap bargaining trick aimed at circumventing this rule,” Ridon said. “In the end, the Aquino administration should be reminded that informal settlers are constituents of the government that should not be deprived of their right to decent living. Estero dwellers don’t reside near waterways because they want to but because they don’t have a choice,” Ridon emphasized. “Rather than blaming them for the massive flooding in the metro and forcing them out of danger areas that they call home, the government should provide holistic and sustainable programs that would uplift their socio-economic conditions and ensure that they will not be forced by poverty to reside in those areas,” Ridon said.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 22:05:44 +0000
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