Members of the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY) Negros, held a State of the Urban Poor Address at the Fountain of Justice on Saturday to denounce the Private Public Partnership program under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.

They were accompanied by members of the National Federation of Small Fisherfolk Organization in the Philippines (PAMALAKAYA) and Samahan ng Maralitang Kababaihang Nagkakaisa (SAMAKANA).

Ireneo Longinos, KADAMAY Negros spokesperson, said that the PPP brought greater harm than benefit to the situation of the urban poor all over the country.

President Aquino is a failure in bringing genuine socioeconomic reforms to the poor in the cities, Longinos said.

Aquino was unable to resolve substantially the problems of the urban poor, especially with unemployment and loss of jobs, loss of homes because of demolitions, and the lack of efficiency in providing social services, he added.

The presence of 30 million people belonging to the urban poor in the whole country is proof that our country never really prospered, Longinos said.

Longinos criticized the rampant demolitions and forced evictions of urban poor communities which were being done in order to give way to the projects under Aquino's PPP.

The KADAMAY Negros spokesperson cited data from the Bacolod Housing Authority of 55,000 families who are informal settlers in Bacolod City alone, who were affected by demolitions.

The government drives informal settlers away from their homes and moves them to so-called relocation sites where livelihood is impossible, he said. City officials are forcing the urban poor out of the land, which has been promised by the government to major private investors for the purpose of so-called development projects, Longinos said.

Meanwhile, PAMALAKAYA released a statement denouncing the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 as an instrument for implementing the neoliberal policies under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the World Trade Organization.

SAMAKANA also released a statement criticizing the Community Mortgage Program that allegedly benefited only the land owners, banks and real estate developers. *PSF

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