Social justice, permanent jobs among concerns in Urban Poor Solidarity Week

CEBU, Philippines - The urban poor of Cebu City cry for security of tenure, permanent jobs and social justice during the opening of the Urban Poor Solidarity Week yesterday.

Urban poor communities living in various barangays of Cebu City gathered at the Plaza Sugbo to send a message to government officials that as life gets more difficult for them, they demand immediate attention and assistance.

Alvin Dizon of the Center for Participatory Governance said that 70 percent of the city’s population is composed of urban poor. This can be translated to 70 poor people out per 100 residents.

These people are those with no security of tenure or those living in slum areas, and people with no permanent jobs - or worse - no jobs at all.

With the significant count of poor people in the city, Dizon said that government officials, both local and national, must focus in creating policies and programs that address the concerns of these people.

Dizon’s group is a local non-government organization which helps barangays in promoting citizen participation in governance and also assists urban poor in their endeavors.

Dizon and his group coordinated with the city’s Division for the Welfare of Urban Poor which organized yesterday’s event. The activity was set also to remind the people that in times of crisis, working together in solidarity may provide them solutions to their seemingly unending poor situation.

Cebu City, however, has been working hard to solve the problem of housing. Over the years, there have been more than 20,000 poor families who have benefitted from the housing program that the city government has implemented.

Cebu City is working closely with different government and non-government organizations as well as private groups for projects beneficial for the poor communities like its partnership with Kaabag sa Sugbo, Dizon said.

He added that the increase in the city’s urban poor population is not because there were no improvements at all, but because a lot of people from rural towns are migrating to the city to try their luck yet ending even poorer.

For this kind of trend, Dizon said that they are urging not only city officials but everyone to work together to solve the problem of poverty which is “brought about by lack of social justice, ineffective agrarian reform program, and lack of job opportunities,” among others. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/MEEV  (THE FREEMAN)