20 injured in demolition

At least 20 residents were injured yesterday morning after they resisted the on-going demolition of squatter shanties in Malabon City.

Rosalinda Bustillos-Lerob, 26, president of the People’s Power Association (PPA), said her 50-year-old mother Lucita and sister Christy, her neighbors Ruby Alarde, Raffy Rodriguez, and Mylene Boro, who is pregnant, were all injured.

Rodriguez said a policeman twisted his arm, while the others sustained scratches and bruises in different parts of the body. The names of the other victims were not available.

The residents clashed with an estimated 30 Malabon City policemen during the demolition of shanties in Block 1, PPA Compound, Barangay Tonsuya, Letre Road. The policemen carried truncheons.

According to Ely Ramada, 24, PPA public relations officer, the demolition team arrived with the police at around 11 a.m. The clash lasted for about 15 minutes, he said.

Last Thursday, around 60 people, including 10 policemen, were hurt after squatter residents, mostly victims of a mysterious fire that razed the nearby Paradise Village last April, resisted the demolition of shanties on the privately-owned Gozon Compound. Ka Jess del Prado, secretary general of the League of Urban Poor for Action (LUPA) and three other women were arrested as a result of Thursday’s clash and were charged with assault on a police officer. – Nikko Dizon