After demanding occupation Kadamay leaves AFP-PNP housing site in Bacolod

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — At least 1,000 informal settlers led by the urban poor group, Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay)–Negros, on Friday finally left the government housing site at Barangay Felisa in Bacolod City.

The group, led by Ireneo Longinos and Berlita Ante, first stormed the military-police housing project, Ciudad Felisa,  bringing with them personal belongings and children, and camped out overnight Thursday to demand that they instead occupy the houses.

The Bacolod City Police Office has dispatched its Civil Disturbance Management unit, and police personnel assigned at Station 7 and 10 to maintain peace and order, while ordered to observe maximum tolerance.

Informal settlers said they will not leave the housing project area, until officials of the National Housing Authority will meet them for a dialogue. Longinos even cited Congress’s Joint Resolution No. 2, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte, authorizing NHA to award unoccupied houses to other qualified beneficiaries, especially informal settlers.

NHA representatives, led by Susana Nonato, head of the housing project implementation team, with the help of the BCPO under Senior Supt. Francisco Ebreo, then negotiated with the group’s leaders at a hotel in the city Friday morning.

After the dialogue, Nonato ordered Kadamay-Negros members until 3 p.m. to vacate the housing site. By about 4 p.m., the group left peacefully, but insisted the NHA failed to address their concerns.

Nonato said what the members of Kadamay-Negros did constituted anarchy. “It is anarchy. Our stand here is, for those informal settler families, if they really want, the local government unit can endorse them so we can package one housing project for them. They don’t necessarily need to join a group,” she said.

The informal settlers cannot occupy the houses at Barangay Felisa because these were already awarded to beneficiaries, who are personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bureau of Fire Protection, and Bureau of Corrections.

They signed an individual loan agreement with the NHA and in fact, many had already paid the housing package in full, Nonato said.

The construction of Ciudad Felisa was completed in 2015, but NHA-Bacolod head Alejandro Ongsuco said the real beneficiaries are still waiting for power and water supply connections to be fully installed.

Ongsuco said he was surprised by the entry of the informal settlers to the housing project site, because a meeting between Kadamay leaders and representatives of the PNP and AFP was scheduled on the second week of September, to discuss request of informal settlers to be resettled there.

Ongsuco had clarified that the housing units for uniformed personnel are not given free. The project was constructed in a 10-hectare property in Barangay Felisa, Bacolod City, with a budget of P162 million.

The discussion on the assistance that could be given to the informal settlers will continue on September 7 in another dialogue scheduled by the NHA with leaders of Kadamay-Negros and representatives of beneficiary-agencies.

Mayor Evelio Leonardia, who attended the meeting, said the city government has a relocation site for informal settlers, but he would welcome a housing project from the NHA.

Bacolod City Lone District Rep. Greg Gasataya, who also joined the dialogue, requested the NHA to submit a status report on the Ciudad Felisa housing project. — PNA with reports from Gilbert P. Bayoran