Hope is a capital asset

A promise never to build a structure in any property owned by a private person or the government. An acknowledgment of having received an unknown amount of money and that he or she is not entitled to anything more from the government. Those were among the contents of a waiver that Manang, my cleaning woman, asked me to review.

The person who gave her and her neighbors the document allegedly told them to voluntarily dismantle their homes (mostly tents now since Ondoy) in exchange for a little cash and the promise of relocation. He could not say when or where the displaced families would be relocated, only that if they did not sign the waiver and voluntarily dismantle their homes, their homes would be demolished anyway.

About two weeks before the scheduled date of demolition, she had excitedly told me that they would be relocated soon. I felt happy for her and the 196 other families who live near the Tullahan River in Pechayan, North Fairview, Quezon City. She was busy gathering government-issued identification cards, birth and marriage certificates, and other documents that the government agency asked them to provide to prove that they were residents of the area and entitled to relocation.

I didn't want to raise her hopes, though. Relocation seemed unlikely with the end of the term of local officials who allegedly lobbied that the community stay there at least until the May 2010 elections. There was no obvious benefit to these officials if they relocated the community now.

Each day brought a threat of demolition and I wondered how she and her neighbors managed to survive the fear of being homeless in a few hours. The president of their neighborhood association and her teenage son were shot dead last year, allegedly because of a dispute over the land they occupied. After her death, they did not have a leader who was as outspoken as she was. The community seemed lost and did not know what to do next.

"Day, didn't President Noynoy say that he will not abandon the poor?" she asked me two days after his oath-taking as President. She and her neighbors had talked about going to his home in Times Street to ask for his help. I shrugged and said that he probably did but gave no opinion on their plan to go to Times Street. What if he did not meet them? It would cost them at least one hundred pesos to go there and return home. That's one hundred pesos they could use for food.

Like other Filipinos who watched the inauguration of President Noynoy Aquino on television, I felt a surge of hope when I listened to his speech. Less than a week after, I still feel hopeful but have realized just how difficult his job is going to be. The plight of Manang and her neighbors is shared by the urban poor all over the country and is just one of the problems that his administration faces.

President Noynoy Aquino's election as President showed that hope was emotional capital that could be harnessed to bring about change. Most of us still have a lot of that emotional capital now and are probably still willing to do our bit to help our country if we knew how.

A recent issue of Fortune Magazine talks about how Melinda and Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are convincing other billionaires to give away at least half of their wealth to charity. Maybe Philippine billionaires and millionaires could be convinced to do the same here. They (or anyone who has idle land in the city) could give away or buy idle land as relocation sites for the poor. Relocation sites need to be near their source of livelihood.

Programs like those of Gawad Kalinga and Habitat for Humanity could be used to build homes. Those without cash or property to give away could share their time and help, too.

The problems of the urban poor are urgent and need to be addressed immediately.

Waiting for the government to do its job could mean a repeat of Ondoy. We might end up watching television featuring live coverage of families being swept away to their deaths by the floods that are expected this rainy season. We have to do something now.

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