PHILIPPINES: Three people die, including a 7-year-old boy, when policemen illegally demolish shanties of informal settlers

Dear Friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that three persons have been killed, including a 7-year-old boy, when a group of policemen opened fire at the informal settlers who resisted an illegal demolition in Pasay City. When the demolition was carried out the demolition team had no valid court order and failed to comply with the existing rules and regulations.

CASE DETAILS: (According to the information from the Urban Poor Associates (UPA) and the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP))

On November 18, 2009, a group of demolition team, composed of about 300 policemen from the Pasay City Police Office, their counterparts from the Police Regional Office of the National Capital Region (NCR) and the police’s Regional Mobile Group (RMG) had gone to demolish the shanties of informal settlers built surrounding the Rajah Sulayman Lumba Ranao Grand Mosque in Roxas Boulevard. The local government’s City Engineering Office (PCEO) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) were also present.

The team, lead by Senior Superintendent Raul Petrasanta, chief of police of PCPO as the ground commander, were allegedly carrying with them a writ of execution that had already expired. The writ was issued on August 11, 2009 by the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 274, in Paranaque City. The team had also did not comply with the rules on demolitions, for example, giving occupants subject of the impending demolition a notice to vacate. The occupants were caught unaware of the scheduled demotion on that day.

When the demolition team arrived, the occupants who were caught by surprise immediately formed a human barricade, most of whom were women, to prevent them from penetrating the contested property to demolish their shanties. The scene quickly became chaotic – children, women and elderly were running from one place to the other to seek safety. Some of them crawled to a grassy portion for cover while others scuffled with the advancing demolition team.

The policemen, armed with M16 rifles and pistols broke the human barricade by force by shoving and pushing with the metal truncheons they were holding. After breaking through the policemen and the demolition proceeded in dismantling the occupant’s shanties. The demolition team also arrested a 13-year-old boy (name withheld) for carrying a slingshot the demolition team later claimed was used against them.

When the resisting occupants began throwing rocks at the policemen the latter responded with indiscriminate and disproportionately use of their weapons which resulted in the deaths of three persons, including a boy, and the wounding of several others. Those killed were Hakim Usman, 30 years old; Rajib Batalo, 7; and Yacub Macalnas, 37. Their dead bodies were buried immediately according to the Muslim’s burial rites.

Those wounded were Imam Mus-Ab Baniaga, 40; Malik Mosib, 51; Damron Datu Imam, 37; Master Dimas Sultan, 37; Macauna Baraucor, 35; Sultan Macaaras Dalama, 55; and a 7-year-old boy whose identity could not be known yet. All the wounded victims were taken to the Pasay City General, San Juan de Dios Hospital, and other nearby hospitals.

According to Abdelmanan Tanandato, community leader of the Association of Demolished Residents of Roxas Boulevard (Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Nademolis sa Roxas Boulevard), the dead bodies of the three victims’ have sustained gunshot wounds from M16 rifles and 9mm pistols, the type of firearms the policemen were using at the time.

The policemen have denied deliberately shooting at the resisting occupants. The police admitted that some of their men opened fire but claimed that the shots fired were meant for warning shots. But in the video taken by a local news television, GMA News, the direction in which the bullets landed suggests that they were not warning shots. The bullets fired struck and were visible in the walls of the mosque. If they had been warning shots they would have been fired over the heads of the protestors.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

The government’s Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) (formerly the Public Estates Authority) is claiming ownership of the reclaimed property which is occupied by close to 400 families. The occupants though had been questioning the PRA’s claim over the property arguing that it was them and not the PRA who had reclaimed and develop the property since 1996. They also built a mosque in the same property. Some of the occupants had also lived there for more than ten years.

There were also questions to the validity of the writ of execution that the policemen and the demolition team were carrying in executing the demolition.

Under Section 28 of the Implementing Rules and Regulation of the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA), a writ of execution of demolitions is valid and must be implemented within 90 days from the day it is issued by the court. Failure to have the order implemented would render its validity null and void. Thus, the demolition team should have obtained a new court order for their demolition to be lawful.

Also, apart from obtaining a writ of execution for demolition from the court, there should also have been a notice to the occupants who are subject of demolition informing them of the impending demolition. The notice to vacate within 30 days is a legal requirement to allow the occupants from taking relief, for example, to question the court order to seek relief; or if none, either to self-demolish or vacate from the property. 

Prior to the November 18 demolition, the policemen and demolition team had also used excessive force and indiscriminately fired at the resisting occupants in the past. In January and June 2007, two persons were reported to have been shot and others were injured when the policemen and demolition team had attempted but failed to demolish the shanties in the area.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the concerned authorities listed below requesting for their appropriate intervention in this case.

The AHRC has also written letters to the Special Rapporteurs on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions and on Adequate Housing.

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