Thursday, July 09, 2009

squatters vs. developers in the Philippines

A familiar story in a new place. The Philippine Daily Inquirer reports that Malabon Mayor Tito Oreta has said that between 35,000 and 50,000 people will be pushed out to free up land for development. He promises they will be relocated. I hope it's true. But how long have the squatters been in residence? Doesn't that longevity give them some right to stay?


P.S. Sorry for having taken a break from the blog for a bit. I was myopically trying to finish a manuscript. Slow suffocation by paper. But I'm still breathing and should be blogging regularly once again.

4 comments:

Cebu Philippines Expat said...

That's always the question, does the act of squatting for a period of time give legal status? In the Philippines, these types of questions need to be answered befor progress can be made.

Elisa said...

intersting article!

Anonymous said...

Did the Philippines sign the housing declaration at the UN? If so, no more than 30 people can be evicted from a squat without 60/30? days notice anyway. It's the agreement we quoted to get housing in Tent City Toronto.

And bluntly, with that many people being unhoused so quickly, I won't be surprised if there's a backlash.

MetisRebel

Sue said...

very interesting post