Philippines

The Philippines continues to evict hundreds of thousands of people in its cities in the name of ‘beautification’ and ‘development’. Landless urban poor are the worst affected by forced evictions throughout the Philippines.

Although housing rights are legally protected by both the Philippines’ Constitution and the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992 (UDHA), the Philippines government continues to use various strategies such as pressuring residents to relinquish these rights by signing waivers and then ‘voluntarily’ relocating them to sites that are not fit to be lived in.

Faced with forced evictions on a massive scale, housing rights groups and activists in the Philippines have joined forces with communities affected by forced evictions and other housing rights violations to form a Housing Rights Task Force.