Urban poor group Kadamay looked back on Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s promises, and found that none has been fulfilled, including bringing down the price of rice to P20 per kilo.
By RITCHE T. SALGADO
Bulatlat.com
As Ferdinand Marcos Jr. prepares to deliver his third State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 22, the urban poor sector asserts that the two years under his presidency have been nothing but suffering for the country’s urban poor.
Kadamay Secretary General Eufemia Doringo said that she would give Marcos a negative mark because none of those his election promises was ever fulfilled, highlighting how Marcos ignored the needs of the poor as he continues with his foreign trips and in favoring foreign businesses that exploit the country’s human and natural resources.
Where is the rice?
“We start with the P20/kilo of rice, where is that?” Doringo asked in Filipino, adding that even with the P29 per kilo of rice that the government is brandishing, the supply is limited and can only be bought at designated Kadiwa stores and on certain days and time.
“From what we know, there are only 10 markets with Kadiwa stores where this can be bought and most are in Metro Manila,” Doringo revealed, adding that those who could buy has to be either a member of the government’s 4Ps Program, a senior citizen, a person with disability, or a certified solo parent. She said that they are also limited to purchasing only 10 kilos of rice. Aside from the rice, Doringo said the Kadiwa stores also sell canned goods of unknown brands with Chinese markings.
Doringo revealed that in urban poor communities, the cheapest rice of good quality that they could buy costs between P50 to P64. “When the term of Marcos started, you could still buy a kilo of good rice for P36, now you can’t,” she said.
“Even if the cost of good rice is high, we would prefer to buy it so that we don’t have to buy expensive viand,” she said.
“Most of those from the urban poor, like jeepney drivers, would only eat once a day – coffee for breakfast and no more meals in the evening, or they would just have both breakfast and lunch in one meal,” she said.
“Eggs are now priced at P11 in the communities, and these are the small ones,” she added.
“Gadon said that poverty is just our imagination, we challenge him to immerse in the community,” Doringo said.
Lorenzo Gadon is Marcos’s presidential adviser for poverty alleviation. He was disbarred by the Supreme Court in June 2023.
Jeepney phaseout continues
Marcos also promised that there would be no phaseout of jeepneys but according to Doringo, the jeepney modernization program, which was started by Duterte, continues.
Doringo clarified that jeepney drivers are not against the modernization program but they are against them being required to buy units which they will not own since these will be owned by the cooperative where they will be operating from.
“The cooperative will own the unit, but it will be paid by the drivers, and spare parts for these modern jeeps are not available, that is why many of the modern jeeps which have broken down are no longer plying the route,” she said.
She explained that the modern jeep sold in the Philippines are surplus products from other countries, and are no longer being manufactured, that is why, the parts are no longer available, as well.
“They have made us a dumping ground for obsolete units,” she said.
“They said that we need to modernize the jeepneys because it emits plenty of smoke and the tradition jeepney is always broken causing heavy traffic, but it was proven during the pandemic that the jeepneys are not the reason for the heavy traffic. Even with just 50 percent of the jeepneys plying their route during the pandemic, traffic was still heavy because of the high number of private vehicles. It is very obvious that the modernization program is a failure,” she said.
When it comes to the cooperatives that manage the modern jeeps, she said that it is managed by just one family, mainly political families, who hold positions of power like president and treasurer. She asserts that even this is used for them to make money as they keep on accepting members even if the franchise or the number of vehicles plying a certain route has already been exceeded.
“Almost 400 apply and are accepted (by the cooperative) but only 100 jeeps are needed in a particular route, so where would you put the rest?” she said.
Continuing privatization of basic services and uncontrolled rise in utility rates
Doringo also expressed concern at the continuing privatization of social services, most especially hospitals and the water districts.
“Villar’s Prime Water has partnered with local water districts and instead of improving the water services, it has worsened the problem,” Doringo claimed, citing the cases of Bacolod City Water District and the San Jose Del Monte City Water District. She mentioned that with San Jose del Monte City Water District, the income of the company has drastically decreased when they entered a Joint Venture Agreement with Prime Water while the water bill of the residents has increased.
She said that the availability of water has become limited. “Before you would pay if your consumption goes above 10 cubic meter, but now you need to pay if it goes above five cubic meter,” she said.
She also made mention of the privatization of public markets, particularly that of Cebu’s Carbon Market and Metro Manila’s bagsakan market, Balintawak.
She said that many were forced to leave their stalls, although they were also given the option to return, but rental has gone up to P1,500 per day, not including water and electricity bills.
“Someone manages the market that prohibits vendors from getting their supplies other than from accredited suppliers, so if there are designated suppliers from whom you could get your supplies. This is particular to Balintawak market,” she revealed.
Hospitals continue to be privatized as well and Doringo said that what keeps patients alive is the guarantee letter (GL) given by politicians, which can be a mechanism used for political patronage. “It helps but it can be difficult for walk-ins and for emergency cases,” she said, pointing out the need to make people realize that the assistance they get from the government like from the Malasakit Centers, or from the politician per se, are the people’s money.
Unlivable wage, harassment, housing woes, demolitions
When it comes to wage, Doringo said that the recent P39 wage hike is not enough to address the basic needs of ordinary workers.
“It cannot even buy a kilo of rice. Our call for increased wages has been met with such a pittance rather than a rate that could close the gap to reach the family living wage, which according to IBON is at P1,197 per day for a family of five,” Doringo said.
Doringo also raised the alarm of the continuing harassment against urban poor leaders.
“When the NTF-ELCAC was established, attacks against our leaders intensified. Black propaganda and harassment against our leaders were intense. They were forcing them to surrender, telling them that they could make money if they surrender. Then they would be asked to appear because they would be given aid, but when they arrive they would be introduced as surrenderers,”
Doringo said, citing incidents that happened in Pandi, Bulacan and Catmon, Malabon where the military held a civic-military operation on the day that Marcos Jr. delivered his second SONA to prevent them from participating in the People’s SONA.
“Last July 2, they talked with our leaders in Pandi, Bulacan saying that they have an activity on Monday,” she said.
Doringo also claimed that the leaders in communities where there are plans of demolition are being visited by men in camouflage uniforms, threatening them to cooperate.
“There is urban militarization in Catmon, Malabon and in Happyland in Tondo. In Catmon, the office of Kadamay was made into a military detachment, starting from the time of Duterte,” she said.
In addition, demolition of houses in the guise of development continues to build up. “The development is not for the poor, rather it is becoming even worse in terms of the poor’s life, livelihood and housing,” she said.
In San Isidro, Project 6, Quezon City, demolition of houses was set on April 17. On April 18, Doringo said, the city’s Task Force Control on Prevention and Removal of Illegal Structures (COPRISS) visited the area, and apparently one of the leaders of the task force offered to pay a youth to burn the remaining houses. The person later on recanted, saying that he was only joking. Doringo said that they already filed a complaint before the Commission on Human Rights but they still have to investigate the case.
Sixty-three families were affected by the demolition, and although each family received P10,000 for them to initially find a place to live in, many have also decided to rebuild their house where it was demolished. “This is the fifth demolition,” she said.
Doringo said that even though there are times when the government would offer to relocate the families who own the demolished houses, these relocation sites are not helpful in terms of the livelihood of the residents, the reason why many would instead return to their demolished house.
“Most of the relocation failed – Substandard housing, very far from the school and work of the parents. How can the family support itself when the father has no job or whoever is working in the family,” she said.
“We are already sacrificing ourselves up to the tip of having no jobs, now we are faced with a new problem for the family to carry,” she added, asserting that housing should not be considered by the government as a privilege but as a right of all Filipinos.
She said that the problem with housing is that the funds allotted are not enough. “Housing only has a budget of P1 billion and this is not relocation or for the poor to build a house, rather this is to be used for the road widening projects and even for the demolition of houses. There is really no housing program.”
She revealed that the government, through the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development intends to address the 6.8 million housing backlog in the country by building 1 million houses per year, but the problem is the budget, that is why they are also partnering with private developers to address this problem. However, Doringo claims that in order for a family to be considered in the housing project, they must be ready to pay P3,000 mortgage a month.
“The poor could not afford this because their priority would be food on their table and the education of their children,” she said, adding that in their recent conversation with DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar, he revealed that the target of the housing program are those who have jobs and can pay the monthly amortization.
“It is still a housing business,” she said.
Urban poor initiated alternatives and calls
Doringo revealed that in order to help the starving poor, they have initiated projects like having a communal urban garden where everyone in the community would help plant vegetables, which when harvested is distributed among them.
“We are teaching people to help each other in order to lighten the situation that they are facing, to establish urban farming and collective work, as long as there is help in terms of land and seeds. If only the government would support the effort of the people, we could do it,” she said.
She also said that they are calling on their fellow urban poor to join in their mobilizations and fight to uphold their rights to decent jobs and livelihood.
“Our call is for the poor to unite for wages, jobs, housing, and rights,” she said. “Even from before, the poor lives by the saying, ‘one scratch, one peck’ but now even with a dozen scratches, you still could not eat,” she said.
On the coming third SONA of Marcos Jr., Doringo and other urban poor residents with Kadamay will be joining the People’s SONA outside of the House of Representatives to raise their concerns hoping that someone inside the halls of Congress would hear them. (RVO) 
