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Southville Housing Project, Manila
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Violator Award - Philippines
The Philippines named a Housing Rights Violator for the forced eviction of hundreds of thousands
The Philippines has been named one of three Housing Rights Violators in 2006, for the forced eviction and mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, and its blatant disregard for the human right to adequate housing.
Each year, the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) awards its Housing Rights Violator Awards to three governments guilty of particularly serious and pervasive housing rights violations in the preceding year. COHRE has issued its Violator Awards since 2002. This year, the Philippines shares the Violator Awards with Nigeria and Greece.
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The Philippines: Facts at a glance
- The Government of the Philippines is in violation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 11), the Constitution of the Philippines (Article XIII, Section 10) and the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992 (Section 28).
- The Northrail-Southrail Linkage Project will be responsible for the forced eviction and displacement of 80,000 families (400,000 people) – the largest planned displacement in the history of the Philippines.
- To date, nearly 29,000 families (145,000 people) have been moved (22,000 families from the Northrail tracks and 7,000 from the Southrail tracks) to several relocation sites far (approximately 40 km) from Metro Manila. COHRE’s research reveals that the living conditions at most of the relocations sites are appalling due to a lack of potable water, electricity and sanitation facilities.
- Large numbers of houses visited by COHRE in July at the Southville relocation site in Cabuyao (home to 7,000 families) are incomplete with no roofs and dirt floors. Research shows that the distance (approximately 30 – 40 km) between the relocation sites and the residents’ sources of livelihood in Metro Manila have caused severe hardship for many families.
- According to the Urban Poor Associates (UPA) more than 70 percent of families in Southville, Cabuyao, have a family member who works in Metro Manila. It also found that the incidence of hunger in the relocation sites was double that experienced by communities living adjacent to the railway tracks.
- Six infants from the Southville relocation site have died this year of pneumonia, sepsis and diarrhoea. Six children also died from a dengue outbreak at the site last month, with a further 18 being infected with the virus due to the serious health hazards posed by a nearby garbage dumpsite and lack of safe drinking water and poor drainage and sanitation facilities.
- Forty two families (210 people) were left homeless when their houses situated at the front of the Shangri-la Mactan Island Resport and Spa in Mactan Island, were demolished by the police in preparation for the 12th ASEAN Summit to be held next week.
- More than 600 homes were also demolished in Mandaue City and Lapu-lapu City since September 2006, in preparation for the Summit. Of the 600 families (3,000 people) rendered homeless by these demolitions, only 100 families were moved to a temporary relocation site. The temporary relocation site has no basic services such as electricity and water.
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| FACT SHEET THE PHILIPPINES |
Download the complete Housing Rights Fact Sheet on The Philippines here.
Released 5 December 2006
 download doc [en]
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