Homeless families from Manggahan Floodway in Pasig City under Balikwas Kadamay and urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) staged a protest rally at their ‘Homeless Camp’ in Mendiola in Manila today.
The groups denounced what they described as an “extravagantly anti-poor” preparations for the 50th year of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN), the 12th meeting of the East Asia Summit (EAS) and the first-ever state visit of US President Donald Trump in the country from November 12-14.
“It is indeed ironic that Duterte and the other country will host many powerful leaders in the subsequent conferences that were largely extravagant. The government has been using the Filipino taxpayers money for the grand preparations while neglecting those in need like the homeless residents of Floodway who are just right outside the front door of his Palace,” said Kadamay National Chairperson Gloria Arellano.
During the rally, the groups criticized the US government and its hand on various impositions of the ASEAN and EAS to its member states, which they believed pushed ‘undoubtedly anti-poor agenda.’
Kadamay said that the current state of homelessness, hunger and poverty in the country worsened as the ASEAN and EAS imposed schemes on globalization and privatization. The group tagged the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program of the Duterte administration as the current privatization scheme.
Arellano said, “This international occasion is an opportunity for the government to further open up our country to plunder and interventionism.”
Kadamay and Balikwas Kadamay were set to mobilize thousands on the three-day anti-Trump and anti-ASEAN protests in Manila starting in an ‘Urban Poor Dinner’ on November 12, in time for the Gala Dinner of Duterte with Trump and other ASEAN leaders. The symbolical dinner protest would satirically depict the irony of the lavish dinners during ASEAN contrary to the state of extreme hunger, poverty and homelessness being experienced by poor Filipinos under the present regime.
Ban Trump
Protesters burned a mock US flag with an image of the infamous American president and defaced the tarpaulins welcoming ASEAN delegates that were hang at the footbridge in Mendiola.
“The world’s most powerful president and a real estate magnate with a history of evicting poor citizens is coming to the country. Duterte will no doubt bow down to please him to gain concessions for big businesses in the entire country,” said Arellano.
Kadamay also noted that while Duterte may criticized the US in the past, he has now taken a more accommodating approach Trump.
Eviction of ‘Homeless Camp’
The rally was an indignation protest to the continuing harassment and clearing operations of the Pasig City government today against the homeless residents in Floodway, who were still in makeshift homes and tents along the Floodway East Bank Road.
Kadamay is also wary of any attempts to wash out or board up the “eyesores” during this time, as it has been the practice in the past when foreign dignitaries arrive.
Arellano pointed out, “There is a big possibility that they will once again try to hide the homeless, vendors and other poor communities to shield the world from the realities of Philippine society. This would be a highly hypocritical and elitist move on the administration’s part which has built its image on supposedly helping the unprivileged.”
The protest was held in time for Kadamay’s 19th anniversary today. It was also the centennial celebration of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia led by Vladimir I. Lenin.
