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Around 400 families were left homeless Thursday morning after the
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) demolished their
shanties surrounding the Pinaglabanan Shrine in San Juan City.
San Juan City Chief Legal officer Romualdo Delos
Santos said that it is unlawful to vandalize and build houses in the
Pinaglabanan Shrine since it symbolizes the heroism of the
Filipinos.
“It is a national shrine so it should be taken
cared of,” Delos Santos said. “We have received longstanding
reports from San Juan’s local government that the informal
settlers are doing otherwise.”
The Pinaglabanan shrine, located at N. Domingo
corner Pinaglabanan Street in San Juan, features a statue of a woman
with two children, holding up a bolo. The statue immortalized the
first attack of the Filipinos against the Spanish colonizers in the
area in 1896. The statue also bears the town seal.
Fortunately, the demolition has been peaceful
because the residents followed the order to leave the area.
A total of 32 families will be relocated to the
Erap City in Taytay, Rizal, which spans 2,500 hectares. Meanwhile,
the other remaining families were given 30 days to vacate the area.
Erap City is a P2.8-billion mass housing project
in Rodriguez, Rizal intended for 1.2 million illegal settlers in
Metro Manila, mostly from the urban poor group.
-- James Konstantin Galvez
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