Press Release
September 24, 2014

SEN. GUINGONA EYES TO RESOLVE SLIP-ZERO'S APPEAL
FOR ON-SITE HOUSING

Files resolution directing Comm. On Justice to hear residents' plea to government

Senator Teofisto "TG" Guingona III has filed Senate Resolution No. 930 directing the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights to probe the unresolved and long-overdue appeal of the community of "Slip Zero" in Barangay 20 in Tondo, Manila to be awarded an on-site housing development, in accordance with the policy of urban renewal and resettlement of the government.

The Slip Zero community, composed of 141 families in Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) Compound in Tondo, Manila, has been advocating for on-site or in-city housing since 2002.

"The fundamental issue of security of land tenure aggravates the socio-economic conditions of the Slip Zero Community, and traps its residents in a never-ending cycle of poverty and vulnerability to marginalization. The Slip Zero Community is merely asking for 2,500 square meters out of the vast 20,000 square meter property owned by PPA, for socialized housing," Sen. Guingona said.

Sen. Guingona stressed that the 1987 Philippine Constitution mandates urban land reform and housing, especially for the poor and homeless citizens.

The Resolution cited Republic Act 7279, otherwise known as the "Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992," which essentially declares as state policy the act of uplifting the conditions of the underprivileged and homeless citizens in urban areas and in resettlement areas by making available to them decent housing at affordable cost, basic services, and employment opportunities."

The said law likewise directs the rehabilitation and development of blighted and slum areas and the resettlement of the law's beneficiaries. It also mandates the implementation of on-site development, whenever possible, in order to ensure minimum resettlement of the beneficiaries from their existing places of occupancy.

Slip Zero area in Tondo is the 1.2 hectare patch of land between the Parola slum and the North Harbor piers. The community is threatened with eviction and is seeking the government's help for an on-site housing development instead of relocation to places where they neither have employment opportunities nor access to basic social services.

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