By MARY LOU MARIGZA
www.nordis.net

Akala ko ay makakapagpahinga tayo ng kaunti sa krusada natin laban sa pagpatay ng sm ng mga pine trees sa Luneta Hill. Ngayon heto na naman ang isang malagim na balita hinggil sa madugong dispersal ng mga urban poor sa Paranaque dahil kukunin daw ng mga “developers” ang lote sa Silverio compound upang magpatayo ng mga gusali at pabahay. At sino po ang isa sa “developer” na ito – di iyong pumapatay ng mga puno sa Luneta Hill sa Baguio.

At ito ang problemang kinakaharap ng mga maralita sa lunsod. Kukunin ang kanilang mga barong-barong para tayuan ng mga sementadong gusaling pagkalalaki para sa mga mayayaman, hindi para sa kanila. At gagamitan sila ng dahas para mapalayas sa mga lugar na ito. Gagamitan sila ng buong makinarya ng mapang-aping gubyerno para marahas na agawin ang mga lupang taas-langit na ipinapangako ng mga pulitiko tuwing eleksyon na ibibigay sa mga mahihirap. Na pagkatapos maluklok sa pwesto ay tatanggap naman ng tatanggap ng mga pabuya sa mga ganid na interes upang ipatupad ang mga negosyong lalong pagkakakitaan nila ni meyor at kung sino pang nanalo diyan. Dahil ang mga mayamang negosyong ito ang ang pondo at nagluklok sa mga ito, siyempre hihingi din ng mga benepisyo sa mga nanalong pulitiko si ganid. Ang lagay ba naman . . .

Just when we thought we had found a reprieve in our crusade against sm’s greed through the courts, the urban poor in other part of our country are facing the might of state (as in police brutality) terrorism. A young man, Arnel Leonor lost his life when a bullet entered his skull in an ugly, bloody and violent dispersal of the stone-throwing protest of the urban poor in Paranaque. The urban poor and the Filipino people will mark this day: April 23, 2012 when policemen fired at protesters to give way for a real estate project with sm as one of the developers. The government property is 9.7-hectares and is now occupied by about 25,000 poor families.

Kung ganito kalaki ang populasyong nakatira dito, matagal na silang naririto dahil hindi naman madaling bahayan ng ganitong kadaming pamilya ang siyam na ektarya. At tiyak ko din, marami nang pulitiko ang nangakong ipamimigay ang lupang ito ng gubyerno sa mga mahihirap. Ngayon, sapilitan silang palalayasin dahil nasulsulan daw ng mga militante. Kung ikaw ay kahit isang taon nang naninirahan sa isang loteng gusto mong maangkin dahil pag-aari naman ito ng gubyerno, papayag ka bang dadahasin ka pa sa pagpapalayas sa iyo? Hindi mo na kailangan pa ng sulsol ng sinuman.

As I watched the news on TV show footages of the shoot-at-the-crowd police dispersing the crowd, you just know someone will be killed. Like the hostage incident at the Luneta, the helmeted troopers were showing and wielding brute brutal force. The police were killing machines inside those battle regalia. They meant to show: by all means, stop the crowd. By all means, show no mercy.

What is the mind set of our police officers that in their numbers and with their armaments they would brutally use bullets and guns, truncheons and shields, teargas on people who only want a piece of the earth to put their houses on. I wonder how many of the policemen own their homes. I wonder how many of these men have relatives in the urban jungles wanting to own homes.

What trainings are we giving the police and army forces that they could just kill civilians they are supposed to protect? What human rights orientation are the police getting that they could not even distinguish armed from un-armed; legitimate protests; freedoms of the people to seek redress and assemble. It makes you angry and sad and you grit your teeth to see young people already at the hands of the “law enforcers” being beaten repeatedly in front of media lenses. What kind of training are we giving our policemen who seem not to know the words “maximum tolerance” or dialogue or mercy.

I was once a political detainee, so I have experienced first hand the brutality of army and police officers and men. As a human rights worker, I have witnessed and seen the pain suffered by families at the hands of the military and the police only because they defended their lives, their homes, their children from death. You would think I have become jaded, but I still cry everytime I see a truncheon land on the head of people who have been cornered by police especially if they are already lying on the ground.

The urban poor of our country need a place to call home where employment is available, where education for their children is present, where opportunities for livelihood can be had. This is not a difficult need and the government should provide for these. It is then doubly at fault if instead of respecting, protecting and fulfilling its obligations to its citizenry, the state uses its brutal machinery to quell protests. The state is doubly at fault and we condemn in the strongest terms the bloody demolition of urban poor communities. # nordis.net