Oro residents to hold protest rally at NHA today

RESIDENTS who are facing imminent demolition will hold a protest rally in front of the National Housing Authority (NHA)-Northern Mindanao in Barangay Puntod today (January 23) to bring out their grievances on the looming demolition of their houses in barangays Puntod and Macabalan on Saturday.

Gipangayo namo ang inyong tabang aron mahatag kanamo ang dugay na namong gipangayo nga disenteng pamuyo, kung diin anaa kamiy kagawasan nga manimuyo nga walay interbensyon sa mga pribadong kapitalista (We are asking for your [NHA-Northern Mindanao and local government officials] help so we could finally own what we have been hoping to have for so long, a decent home, where we are free to live without the intervention of private capitalists, read the statement of urban poor group Kadamay-Northern Mindanao led by its chair Francisco Pagayaman.

Pagayaman told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro by phone Thursday that their occupation in the area is legal, but that the writ of demolition the NHA on December 12 and 17, 2014 showed to the residents is also legal.

The demolition order is intended for lots 1 to 7 located in the two barangays.

Kadamay alleged the NHA-Northern Mindanao officials who brought the order were accompanied by representatives from two companies who have an interest in the contested area.

Pagayaman said the affected residents, who banded together and call themselves the Cagayan Integrated Landless Residents Association Incorporated (Cilrai), are ready to fight a legal battle against NHA, as he cited a provision of a law that supposedly protects them.

According to him, Article 1, Section 2 (b) (2) of Republic Act, also known as the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992, says, Equitable utilization of residential lands in urban and urbanizable areas with particular attention to the needs and requirements of the privileged and homeless citizens and not merely on the basis of market forces.

Because of this law, Pagayaman said, whatever program the government undertakes must prioritize the needs of the poor and not just the private sector.

He said they will also question the NHA-Northern Mindanao, which the group alleged sold the lots to the two companies, why the agency did not hold a dialogue 30 days prior to the issuance of the writ of demolition.

Cilrai, he added, also want a relocation site, complete with basic facilities, for the affected families, if ever they will be driven out of their homes.

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Oro residents to hold protest rally at NHA today