Had Aries, 23, agreed to a cash offer from a local government official, a live rodent intentionally lit on fire could have razed the community of Sitio San Isidro to the ground. But Aries flatly refused. The young man has nobler aims, one of which is to organize his neighbors to fight for their rights and welfare.
His parents hailed from the province of Surigao and Leyte, migrated to Metro Manila in search of livelihood, and settled in Sitio San Isidro in 1995. They raised a family, with Aries being the third among 10 siblings. At the time, only three families lived in Sitio San Isidro, which eventually grew into a congested urban poor community that is sitting on government land.
Sitio San Isidro is located in Quezon City, beside the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) and extending along Agham Road. It straddles two barangays, Pag-asa and Project 6. It is currently under threat of demolition to make way for the expansion of PCMC’s parking area.
Fighting demolitions
The first attempt at demolition took place in 2013 to make way for business establishments promising job opportunities. However, many residents were reluctant and argued that job creation is meaningless if they are relocated far from where these jobs are. Some residents who had already received financial assistance and housing units eventually left the relocation sites and returned to Sitio San Isidro.
Eleven years later, on 18 April 2024, the community was jolted awake at six in the morning by the sudden arrival of a demolition team that carried out an operation lasting until four in the afternoon. The homes of 50 families were completely cleared out.
Aries was in disbelief – the demolition team dismantled homes even while people were still inside. Each house typically contains 7-10 rooms, occupied by several families with 2-5 members each. If the standing owner of a house agrees to voluntary demolition, all the families living within that structure will be affected.
Since then, Aries has volunteered as a full-time organizer for the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay), a nationwide alliance of urban poor organizations fighting for the eradication of poverty. Kadamay’s secretary-general, Eufemia “Nanay Mimi” Doringo is running for senator under the Makabayan slate. Aries recalls that Nanay Mimi has always stood with them in their struggles against demolitions carried out without in-city relocation.
Demolition of urban poor communities is escalating to desperate measures. The government has urban gentrification projects for real estate oligarchs and foreign investors but lacks housing plans for the poor. There are 3.62 million informal settler families in the country. There are 4.5 million homeless Filipinos – two-thirds are in Metro Manila. Yet, the government has a 6.5 million housing backlog as of 2022, which is expected to reach the 10-million mark by the end of Marcos Jr’s term.
Poor as ever
Why would government bother? Official statistics, after all, paint a far rosier picture than realities on the ground. Based on the Philippine Statistics Authority’s 2023 poverty statistics, the poverty incidence has declined from 2021 to 2023. Among 10 basic sectors, individuals residing in urban areas are among those with the lowest poverty incidence (10.3%), next to senior citizens (7.8%) and formal and migrant workers (8.3%).
Nonetheless, this cannot conceal the more glaring fact that despite government efforts of providing financial assistance through different government programs, such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita (AKAP), and Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS), the decrease of 1.3 percentage points in poverty incidence – from 11.6% in 2021 to 10.3% in 2023 – is statistically negligible. The urban poor are still hardly able to fend for themselves with the rising inflation, low minimum wage, and worsening employment conditions. Still, poverty has worsened compared to before the pandemic – from 9.3% in 2018 to 10.3% in 2023.
Based on the self-rated poverty survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) in March 2025, the number of Filipino families who consider themselves poor increased to 52% or around 14.4 million households. In addition, involuntary hunger rose to 27.2%, with Metro Manila having the second-highest (28.3%) that experiences hunger, next to Visayas (33.7%).
Resist and win
Instead of pursuing agrarian and industrial development to generate sustainable jobs and alleviate poverty, the government has focused on extensive land use conversion, land reclamation, and other so-called development projects in rural areas, which have only displaced the peasants. The rural population is left with no choice but to migrate to urban areas, even if urban poverty is quite acute and apparent – marked by a dearth of jobs and living wages, and destitute communities.
Currently, 5 out of every 10 Filipinos live in cities. By 2050, without a real government plan for sustainable development, cities will burst at the seams – it is estimated that 84% of the population will reside in urban areas.
The number of youth driven to desperation may grow – some turning to anti-social activities, others betraying their communities for money, or doing favors for politicians. There will not be any real qualitative changes especially as politicians continue to rely on votes from urban poor strongholds they influence and manipulate with patronage, disinformation and dole outs. Yet more like Aries will rise – unyielding, principled, and standing up for the rights of the poor. Raised by an organized community and shaped by its leaders, Aries is the defiant counterpoint: refusing to be bought, and fighting for a future that the ballot alone will not deliver.
