MANILA — Hundreds of urban poor community leaders have agreed to strengthen the role and expand the function of the Presidential Commission on Urban Poor (PCUP), during a summit in Quezon City on Friday.
PCUP Chairman Noel Felongco said urban poor leaders have passed various resolutions addressed to all stakeholders, especially to national key shelter agencies, such as the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council of the Philippines, National Housing Authority, and Pag-IBIG Fund.
The resolutions include the strengthening of the PCUP, which is currently focused on policy formulation, coordination, and monitoring.
“Itong iminu-mungkahi ng mga urban poor leaders, bigyan ng mas malaking role ang PCUP, na baka puwede nang bigyan ng program implementation function (What the urban poor leaders are recommending is to strengthen the role of the PCUP, that maybe its function could be expanded to program implementation),” he told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
One of these functions is granting the commission a mechanism for emergency housing, particularly those facing demolition and eviction.
“Kapag mayroong mga demolition at eviction, ang tanong diyan may adequate relocations ba? Usually, sa experience ng PCUP, ang sagot diyan, ‘Wala pa.’ So iyon ang gap. Ngayon kasi, kung immediate talaga na i-demolish ang (kabahayan ng) tao, kailangan ‘yung tinatawag na emergency housing (The question whenever there is a demolition or eviction is whether there are adequate relocation sites. Usually, in PCUP’s experience, the answer is, there is none. So that’s where we see the gap. Now if there is a demolition, the people need emergency housing),” he explained.
The PCUP’s mandate is limited to bridging urban poor organizations to proper government agencies that can provide funding.
Under the resolution endorsing the summit outputs on “sustainable employment, livelihood, and social protection,” the urban poor leaders recommended an amendment to the PCUP charter and mandate from a non-implementing agency to an implementing one.
At the same time, they urged all concerned agencies to work for a comprehensive Magna Carta for the Urban Poor.
A total of six resolutions were signed. These are measures on asset reform, participatory mechanism, resettlement, employment, demolition and eviction, and climate change.
On climate change mitigation and adaptation, Felongco said the urban poor leaders asked concerned agencies to conduct thorough planning when choosing relocation areas and see to it that the sites are not disaster-prone or flood-prone.
Under the resolution on participatory mechanism, the participants sought for the inclusion of urban poor organizations in the composition of local interagency committees/Local Housing Boards.
According to Felongco, these resolutions signed during the summit will be submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte for his consideration.
The National Urban Poor Summit (NUPS) 2018, which concluded Friday night, was led by PCUP and the Office of the Cabinet Secretary, in partnership with other national government agencies, at the Agricultural Training Institute in Quezon City. (Joyce Ann L. Rocamora/PNA)
