Palace to estero dwellers: You have to go

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang has a firm message to informal settlers along Metro Manila’s waterways: it’s time to go, and we mean by year’s end.

In a press briefing on Monday, August 5, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the government’s plan to relocate over 20,000 families living near Metro Manila esteros — or waterways — is ongoing.

Through a memorandum issued August 2, Friday, Malacanang formally directed Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas to lead the inter-agency program.

“This will be a continuing mission for DILG Secretary Mar Roxas to ensure that all those people living in the danger zones be relocated to decent housing,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda said that the relocation isn’t “purely [the] DILG’s [work].” Several other agencies — the National Housing Authority and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, among others — are also involved.

The President also earlier directed the justice department to file cases against those who were found to have built structures along the esteros.

On Monday, 87 out of 182 families living in Barangay Salapan near the San Juan river began voluntarily left their homes for a relocation site in Bulacan, the San Juan city government said.

The relocation is part of the national government’s flood control master plan.

In June this year, public works chief Rogelio Singson pinpointed 8 major Metro Manila waterways that need to cleared by the year’s end. San Juan River topped the list, with over 4,317 families living in the area.

Asked about clashes in some communities unwilling to relocate, Lacierda said the Palace hasn’t received “much opposition” from affected families. “Obviously, there really is no comparison between living in an estero or living on a waterway compared to decent housing,” he added. – Bea Cupin/Rappler.com