l

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PressRelease
September10,2009
AlyansqngMarslitangPilipino
ContactRonryCabugnason, I 3963
@ 092027
Hurdreds of poor resid€rir alongSouthRsil 8ndManih Bay hold rdly at HUDCC

Some500ulbanpoorrcsidentsliving alongtheSouthRail in Laguna,Batangas and

of ManilaBay
Cavite,andalongthecoastlines helda mlly at theMakatioffice ofthe
HousingandUrbanDevolopment Coordinatrng Council(H[IDCC)anda dialoguewith
housingofticialsontheirdemandfor decenthousingandlivelihoodoppofiunitias.

RomyCabugnason, spokesperson of Alyansang MsralitangPilipino(AMP),saidthat

"Thousqndsoffamiliesvill bedisplacedbydemolitions alongtheCalabanonareasof
So th RailandMonilqBcy to giveway to ofthe ruilwayandcleanupof
rehabilitation
thebay.Buttheurbqnpoor arenotgarbagethatshouldbethrownawqylo gh)ewayto
so-calleddevelopmen. fhere is no realprcgress nlessthercis sociqliuslice."

TheCalabarzon urbanpoorasscmbled in Makatiarouldnoonandthen

atMagallanes
marchedto theHUDCCofliceby 1:00pm.Theythenhelda dialogueat 2:00pmwith
theirdemands.
HIJDCCofficialsregarding

Theresidents alongtheManilaBayareaskingfor in-cityrelocation,ahernative formsof

for rclocatior!
fishingfor livelihood,andfinrncisl assistana€ livelihood8nd social
services.Whilethedemands ofthe urbanpooralo)nittheSouthRaifline arethereleaseof
thefundsm€antfor relocatees, saleto informalsettlersofthe PhilippineNational
Railroadlandsthatwill notbeus€din therehabiliation,andrepresentation itt thei er'
agencycommitteeon relocstion.

MembersofAlyansang Mamamayan naApektadong RoadI (AMAR'I), Samahang

Mamamayan NaninirahansaRilesng Calabarzon (SMPRC)andPartidong Manggagawa
joinedAMP in themarch,rally anddialogue.Theprotesters
camefromthetownsof
Calamba,LosBaflosandBaein Lagun4Sto.TomasandTanauan in Batangas,
and
Bacoor,K8wit,CaviteCity,Rosario and Tanzain Cavite.

Demolitionof fishingcommunities alongtheCsvitecoastlineof ManilaBaywas

supposed to startyesterday promtingtheuban poorto
asperthenoticessentto resideats
for cvictionofresidents
holda rally anddialoguewith HTIDCCofficials.Preparation
alongtheSouthRait stertingftom Calambaarealsounderway.

Cabuglason explainedtlt l "lve sre merelyaskingforthesocialco$ of&ese

develoryentplansthatshouldalreadybefactorcdintotheproiectcost-ThewbanPoor
detandsamotntto onlya smallportionof thesemultibillionploiects." TheSouthRail
projeotscostsmorethanP 40 billion with anallotnentItoundP 1.8billion for relocation.
Thegovemment meanwhile recentlyallocatedP 1.6bi[ion for theManilaBaycleanup,
ofwhich P 250million is for relocationof informalsettlerson openwaterways
in Meto
Manila.###