Squatter Demolitions
Although the Philippine government publicly denies that the demolition of squatter settlements was linked to the November 1996 APEC summit, privately officials admitted that the demolitions of many squatter communities were to "clean up" Metro Manila in advance of APEC. Not all of the squatter communities resisted the demolitions. The government was relatively successful in orderly demolitions in cases where the residents were promised resettlement. Even with resettlement, though, conditions are not ideal: residents complain that there is not adequate electricity or drinking water at the resettlement sites, and that they are too far from schools and employment opportunities. In many cases demolitions did not seem to produce the desired results. The morning after a demolition, former residents can be found sleeping in tent communities on the sidewalks. A week later, many of them are still there.
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A man sits outside his illegally built house on the morning of a scheduled demolition.
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Aware that the media would be present, local organizers put children on the front line of the barricade to prevent the impending demolition of squatter shanties.
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A homemade grenade explodes in the street causing protesters to scatter and the demolition crew aggressively begins its job of destroying the shanties. A woman carries her children to safety.
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A woman cries in despair as the blue-shirted demolition crew tear down the shanties.
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The demolition crew at work.
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Once the inevitability of the demolition sets in with the squatters, some of the demolition crew are considerate and help the squatters safely remove their personal belongings, including this religious statue.
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A girl who claims she has photographic proof that the homemade grenade was set off by the demolition crew--not the squatters--is pursued by angry members of the demolition crew brandishing crowbars. Caught, the girl stands helplessly as the crowd, made up mostly of members from the demolition crew, demand that she be thrown down to them.
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Fortunately for the girl, the police step in, and she is taken into custody by the police and the local mayor.
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Elsewhere demolitions went ahead without violence. At Tambo Bridge (which APEC leaders will cross on their way to and from the airport) squatters were promised resettlement from the beginning and did not resist the demolition crew. A young child living under the bridge rests as a neighbor's house is dismantled. The child's house was destroyed the next day.
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A boy sits with his family's possessions as he watches a crew dismantle his house.
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A week after the demolitions at Paco, the squatters are still not gone.
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A woman does her morning laundry amidst the rubble of the previous week's demolitions.
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The government is building a temporary settlement site in Minuyan, outside of Manila until a permanent site planned for Antipolo is built. Inside an abandoned garment factory, people who were forcibly removed from their homes on Bonifacio drive in July (adjacent to a golf course that is being readied for APEC delegates) are housed. The government promised to resettle them in Antipolo within six months of the demolition of their homes, but the site will reportedly not be habitable for some time to come.
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More temporary housing being built for squatters affected by the demolitions.
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Poor, but not necessarily jobless, the lack of work in the resettlement areas is the squatters' biggest complaint about the demolitions, and is the biggest hurdle in the government's attempts to peacefully remove the squatters. A baby lies in its family's temporary housing while a popular evangelist preaches on TV.
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