Nearly 400 shanties demolished in QC

MANILA, Philippines - Almost 400 houses were demolished to clear a portion of the Court of Tax Appeals compound in Quezon City, in an operation that went without a violent incident Monday morning. QTV’s noontime news program Balitanghali reported that some 390 houses of illegal settlers inside the said compound along Agham Road in Barangay Pag-asa, Quezon City were demolished past 8 a.m. The television report said that the demolition team was composed of over a hundred personnel of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) sidewalk clearing operations unit. The demolition went without much resistance from the residents, most of whom even voluntarily tore down their houses, the report added. However, some pleaded to the MMDA team that the materials be saved so they can still reuse them once they get relocated. The residents also complained that no relocation site has been designated for them yet. The television report quoted several displaced residents as saying they would be forced to temporarily seek shelter in their relatives’ homes. For his part, Ed Madamba, a representative of the local inter-agency committee tasked to oversee the relocation, assured the residents they would be transferred to a site in San Jose del Monte town in Bulacan province. Madamba said they will initially bring to the relocation site some 70 residents who were the first to qualify to have shelters in Bulacan, the report said. Members of the Court of Tax Appeals and the inter-agency task force said they are still in the process of studying more than 300 other residents on whether they would also be qualified for lots in the Bulacan relocation site. A government truck had been deployed in the area to pick up the qualified residents and transport them to the relocation site. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV