Pa demands justice for 2-month-old baby hurt in North Triangle demolition

The January 27 demolition of homes of the urban poor in the North Triangle was the most overkill in the number of police forces deployed, teargas fired and high-powered rifles displayed. CTUHR

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com

MANILA Dennis Suarez, 28, is demanding justice for the danger his two-month-old daughter had to go through when she suffocated from the teargas fired by the police during the demolition in North Triangle yesterday, Jan. 27.

I demand justice for my baby, justice for the livelihoods they destroyed and for our homes they demolished. We were not informed that something like this would happen, Suarez told Bulatlat.com.

On Jan. 27, around 1,000 police, members of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and demolition team arrived in North Triangle in Quezon City to demolish homes to give way to the 11.3-road widening project along Agham Road.

Using the heaviest force since their first attempt to demolish the urban poor homes, the police broke their way into lines of resisting residents from 9:30 a.m., proceeding with the demolition of homes once they got through, and then restarting the use of force on the residents at 12:30 high noon. Residents fought the canisters of tear gas and warning shots fired by the police with stones and bottles.

Tadeo Palma, secretary to the Office of the Mayor, said in a Manila Standard Today report that about 81 houses were demolished yesterday, Jan. 27. About 100 more are expected to be removed.

Residents stay along the sidewalk after their houses were demolished last January 27. (Photo by Janess Ann J. Ellao / Bulatlat.com)

Children not spared

Suarez said he brought his baby to a cousins house as their home was threatened with demolition. But the canister of teargas thrown by his cousins house suffocated his baby who was then sleeping in his cousins bedroom.

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Pa demands justice for 2-month-old baby hurt in North Triangle demolition