Digma Kaularuan
In Manila, Philippines, over 2.6 million individuals, 21% of the Metro Manila population, live their lives in a disarray of informal settlements between the edges of society. Many families hail from near and far provinces seeking new economic opportunities in an already densely populated city.
As new opportunities prosper for the growing middle class, so too does the need for more substantial housing and high-rise condominiums – built right on top of the memories and dreams of the lower class. This has resulted in an endless cycle of eviction, relocation and demolition of these communities to pave way for further privatization of government lands. Although, one community is organizing and fighting to hold on to what remains of their community.
Children play in a basketball courts with newly constructed condominium buildings in the background of the community on April 8, 2018.
Two local men from Sitio San Roque play a Philippine version of billiards in a makeshift pool hall on October 6, 2018.
The remains of a recently self-demolished building in Sitio San Roque. The community is once again under threat for demolition by the NHA. Although they are now changing tactics by slowing demolishing the community one small section at a time.
Beng Rober and her children Jennifer Rober and Joris Rober have been living as informal settlers in Sitio San Roque for 8 years. They are one of the several thousand families that are renters in the community. Since they are only renters, they cannot avail of the government’s relocation housing program.
From left, Rolando and Reniel Balagosa and John Paul Banique hold everyday items they found in the rumble of a demolished house on October 6, 2018. They have all lost contact with friends that have moved away to seek affordable housing elsewhere in Metro Manila.
Ate Fe sits for a portrait in her small home in San Roque on Oct. 6th, 2019. Fe is a local organizer for Kadamay, a national organization that advocates for the rights of the urban poor in the Philippines.
Children walk along the rumble of recently demolished houses as a new mall looms over the informal settlement of Sitio San Roque on October 6, 2018.
A construction team demolishes a house in Sitio San Roque by request of the owner. Ayala Corporation and the National Housing Authority have promised 32,000 PHP (640 USD) and housing elsewhere to San Roque residents in exchange for abandoning their lot and demolishing their home.
Kadamay community organizers discuss the effectivity of their protest action earlier in the day on April 13, 2018. Kadamay and residents of Sitio San Roque stopped the demolition in 2010 that was being carried out by the Philippine National Housing Authority (NHA).
Children play on a makeshift seesaw on the edge of the Sitio San Roque community on Oct. 6th, 2019.
A girl runs through Sitio San Roque on March 30, 2018.
In 2010, the residents of Sitio San Roque in Quezon City armed with only concrete stones and beer bottles, expelled a squadron of riot police and bulldozers threatening to demolish their community. After several days of skirmishes, the residents organized under Kadamay, a people organization that advocates for mutual aid of the Filipino poor, preserved a portion of the community.
The remaining area was demolished and later developed into a new shopping mall and skeletons of high-rise condominiums. Currently new tactics are being employed by the National Housing Authority and the Ayala corporation to oust the dwindling number of informal settlers in the community such as paid self-demolishment and targeted arson.
This slow encroachment approach seems successful as abandoned edges of the settlement are being walled off from residents. Although, a core group of organizers work daily to bolster the community’s morale to resist eviction. The community continues to maintain a sense of normalcy even as they are continually threaten by their evictor.