KULTURA 12Philippine Collegian

huwebes, 24 Hunyo 2010

Litrato ni Chris ImperialDisenyo ni Patricia Basmayor

Mila Polinar

With palm trees and an oasis for its en-trance, the Triangle North of Manila or TriNoma paints a picture of tran-quility, of the good life found only

in malls. Visited by thousands of shoppers, the mall features gourmet restaurants and rooftop gardens.

Located at the corner of North Avenue and EDSA, TriNoma was built in 2007 as part of the Quezon City Central Business District (QCCBD) project. Spearheaded by Gloria Arroyo and outgo-ing Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte, the QCCBD will accommodate condominiums, high-rise business buildings, malls, gardens and leisure parks. To make it more accessible, three metro rail stations will be built in the district. It is to become the center of commerce and business, a whole 340 hectare zone of urban development.

Behind every building constructed, however, is the story of a displaced community. Where Tri-Noma now stands, a community once resided. To make way for the completion of the QCCBD proj-ect, about 20,000 families will be evicted from their homes.

Blueprint for displacementOne of the communities to be displaced for the

QCCBD project in the North Triangle is located directly behind TriNoma, Sitio San Roque, where around 16,000 families reside. They have lived in the area for almost 30 years and have found their means of livelihood as minimum wage earners, such as janitors or security guards.

The government plans to relocate the displaced families to a site in Montalban, Rizal, which is 30 km away from Metro Manila. Thus, workers who choose to be relocated would have to commute daily from Montalban to Metro Manila, spending at least P80 to P140 for fare.

“Halos wala nang natitira sa sahod,” says Janette Arellano, a mother of three who moved from Sitio San Roque to Montalban. Janette’s husband is a minimum wage earner and, with transportation ex-penses, only takes home P200 for other needs.

Jennilyn Peroy’s husband, meanwhile, opted to stay in Metro Manila despite his family’s relocation to Montalban. ”Wala na [kaming] kakainin pag uwi-an [siya] araw-araw kaya isang beses sa isang linggo na lang siya umuuwi dito,” says Jennilyn.

Aside from being far from the residents’ work-place, water and electricity supply in the relocation site are also problematic. “Wala pang linya ng tubig, igib-igib pa,” says Jennilyn. When Jennilyn’s family arrived at the site last April 27, there was no direct electrical line and some houses lacked roofs and flooring.

According to the Urban Land and Housing Re-form Act, “a continuing program of urban land re-form and housing [must] make available at afford-able cost decent housing and basic services.” The state of the relocation site shows that the National Housing Authority (NHA) violates these provi-sions, says Alberto Evangelista of the Nagkakaisang Naninirahan sa North Triangle Alliance. Evangelista adds that there is a lack of job opportunities and health facilities near the relocation site.

The house awarded to residents is about 4 by 5 square meters, too small for a family of five. Even then, Janette and her family chose to relocate be-cause they had long dreamed of owning a house. However, such promises are meant to entice people to leave the area and pave way for demolition, says

The QCCBD project and the price of developmentDisplaced priorities

Total Number of Hectares to be used for QCCBD project

Affected communitiesSitio San Roque, Brgy. Central, Sitio San Isidro, Brgy. Pinyahan, Sitio Palanas

195.6 hectares

Affected government agencies

DA, DENR, Off ice of the Ombudsman, SRA NFA, MGB, PAWB, NAPW, NPC, BIR, NIA, NPC, NPO, NSO, BSP, LTO andLTFRB

103.3 hectares

Reference: KADAMAY AND COURAGE primer

Beating deadlines: The QCCBD project timelineYear Event

2002The QCCBD project was f irst proposed in 2002 through Executive Order (EO) 106. Belmonte issued a moratorium on demolition to the residents of North Triangle, commanding that no demolition should occur in the area during his stay in off ice.

2007 By virtue of EO 620, the QCCBD project implementing body, North Triangle Development committee was changed to the Tri-Dev Commission

2008A public bidding was held for the North Triangle area in which the Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) became the winning bidder. The project in the 29.5 hectare North Triangle costs P22 billion.

2010 Relocation of families begins in Sitio San Roque.

2012 The development of the North Triangle area is set to begin.

DECONSTRUCTION Evangelista.

On April 14, NHA sent out notices of eviction in Sitio San Roque, giving the residents 30 days to vacate the area. By May 13, only 900 families have relocated to Montalban. The residents held a dia-logue with the National Housing Authority on the same date and the deadline was extended until June 30(see sidebar 2).

faulty constructionThe QCCBD project, furthermore, also threat-

ens to displace government agencies. For one, the national office of the Department of Agriculture will be transferred to Ilagan City in Isabela to pave way for the construction of commercial buildings.

Government offices were to be moved not only to accommodate the QCCBD project but also to decongest Metro Manila, according to the QCCBD proposal. Central business districts, however, have only caused more traffic congestion in an area, as in the case of the Makati Central Business district.

“Bulok ang planong [ito] dahil kahit saang bansa, [nasa] kapitolyo ang lahat ng central offices,” says Ferdinand Gaite, national president of Confedera-tion for the Unity, Advancement and Recognition of Government Employees (COURAGE). He added that transferring such agencies would only make coordination between the agencies less efficient and might lead to the massive lay-offs of government em-ployees in these agencies.

Moreover, government medical institutions like the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, the Philippine Heart Center and the Philippine Lung Center (see sidebar 1) will be combined to form a block of medical centers to be called the Philippine Center for Specialized Health Care. The thrust of this center is geared towards medical tourism, ca-tering to foreign stakeholders and not to Filipinos, according to Kalipunan ng Damayang Pilipino (KA-DAMAY) and COURAGE.

urBan decayIronically, the implementation of the QCCBD

project is also in the hands of government institu-tions. The North Triangle Development Commis-sion which leads the project is composed of Bel-monte, Noli de Castro and the NHA.

The mission of the NHA should be to “provide responsive housing programs primarily to homeless low-income families with access to social services and economic opportunities.” As such, the develop-ment of the North Triangle area, which is owned by NHA, should be toward socialized housing projects and not to business enterprises, says Gaite.

The source of funding for the QCCBD project shows the priority of the government. In light of the Philippine Country Assistance Strategy, World Bank (WB) provided P3 billion to fund the study of the development framework of the QCCBD project. In exchange of funding, WB can intervene in affairs like “policy advice, technical assistance and investment support,” according to KADAMAY and COURAGE. “Kaming mahihirap ay hindi kasama sa kabuhayang pag-unlad [na dala ng QCCBD],” says Evangelista.

The QCCBD project reveals the skewed meaning of progress in the country: commerce centers above the right to shelter, basic needs and decent liveli-hood. While TriNoma depicts a scene of affluence, the outside world serves as a glaring picture of gov-ernment negligence. q

DECONSTRUCTION