Women from Barangay (Brgy.) 105, Tondo, Manila suspected they were being followed on their way home after joining the International Women’s Day protest in 2023.
The next day, March 9, members of the 11th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) arrived in Happyland at around 7 in the morning. The soldiers roamed the community until 3 in the afternoon. They asked around for those who had joined the March 8 protest rally.
Rights group Karapatan National Capital Region (NCR) said that was the first recorded incident of military presence in Manila last year.
On March 10, the soldiers stationed themselves at the main entry point of Happyland. They also roamed the cluster of old buildings known as GK. The soldiers asked residents to identify the groups in the community.
On March 11, the soldiers arrived early in Aroma and gathered the building coordinators through a local village official. They told the coordinators they were there to help with their concerns. They said they had spoken with Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Jose Acuzar about the residents’ demand for in-city relocation. Before the meeting ended, the soldiers asked for the building coordinators’ cellphone numbers and Facebook accounts.
The soldiers told one of the residents that they would be in Tondo for a year.
Apart from the 11th IBPA, the Philippine military has also deployed the 11th Civil Military Operations (CMO) “Kaugnayan” Battalion and the 12th CMO “Kapatiran” Battalion in Manila and other cities in the NCR, also known as Metro Manila.
On May 21, the 11th CMO deployed one more platoon in Metro Manila.
Before the military deployment in Metro Manila under the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration deployed soldiers in urban poor communities in Metro Manila in 2007.
Common factors among these communities (then and now) were the presence of activist groups and land disputes or development projects that would entail the demolition of the homes of the poor.
Happyland (coming from the Bisaya word ‘hapilan’ meaning dumpsite) is accessible from the main road R-10. After passing through Happyland, one will arrive at GK and Aroma.
From the self-built shanties of Happyland, Aroma starts at the rows of old two-story buildings that serve as temporary housing sites. These buildings used to be warehouses. The structures were not built for human habitation but have served that purpose for decades.
Homes in these communities have electricity if they can afford it. Water is bought per container. There is no sewage or drainage. Homes with toilets are few, and some toilets are communal.
Garbage is also a common fixture in all these communities. It is in the soil that people walk on where there are no cemented streets; in sacks or carts salvaged and collected in homes to be sold later; or in discarded piles rotting not far from where people sleep, eat, and live.
Even though Smokey Mountain was closed in the 1990s, garbage scavenging remains one of the main means of livelihood for the poor in Brgy. 105. Regular work is scanty. Residents eke out a living by whatever means possible and accept far less pay than the backbreaking labor they endure. Residents struggle to put food on the table despite juggling several jobs or side hustles.
By description, these communities seem like they are by no means livable. But, home is not only where people live, it is also where they can make a living. Situated near the port area, there are many ways to make money, however small. Almost 25,000 people live in Brgy. 105.
So, in these communities, offers of help, or ayuda, are always welcome. Needed even.
Ma’am Fe was one of the residents frequently visited by soldiers when they first came to Brgy. 105 last year.
The soldiers offered her ayuda. This word translates to aid or help in English, but colloquially, it means relief goods or cash dole-outs.
“When the military first came here, of course, we welcomed them. They said they wanted to help. But as days passed, what they were doing was different from what they told us they were here for. They took my picture. They said it was necessary for their activity. At first, I did not mind it,” shared Ma’am Fe.
Ma’am Fe, with other members of their local organization Samahan ng Magkakapitbahay sa Temporary Housing (SMTH), accepted the goods the soldiers offered.
Usually, the goods are several kilos of rice, sometimes with packs of noodles and canned goods.
They have no reason to refuse these dole-outs, especially in a place where the source of the next meal is uncertain. Living in one of the worst slums in the country, they have been beneficiaries of countless charitable efforts. What the soldiers were offering was nothing new to them.
“Then they kept asking people to identify the community leaders, the organizations in the community, and their members. The soldiers kePT coming here even at night,”said Ma’am Fe
Ma’am Fe was alarmed when her neighbors told her that the soldiers went around Aroma asking for her one time she was not home.
“Of course, I’m afraid. But I don’t show it. I am scared that the authorities can make up cases against me and that things like that can be done easily to the poor. I had to show them, especially my colleagues, that I was not doing anything wrong. There is nothing to be afraid of,” shared Ma’am Fe about this incident.
Not long after, the soldiers red-tagged Ma’am Fe’s group.
“At first, they gave us goods. Then, they red-tagged us. They said we would become the NPA [New People’s Army] in the future. We would hide the NPA from them. They said the groups here are related to the NPA. They said our group was just a front organization,” shared Ma’am Fe.
The NPA is the armed group of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) waging a civil war in the countryside.
“The soldiers claimed that our group was a front for Gabriela. They said we have an organizer. The residents are the ones who decided to form an organization to defend our homes. We are the ones affected; we are the mothers here. If we lose our homes, what will our lives be like if we are relocated far away, far from the work of our husbands, and far from the education of our children? ” said Ma’am Fe.
“I attended a meeting. All the building coordinators were there. I attended because my husband couldn’t join. By chance, they elected me president. At first, I didn’t want to do it. That time, I couldn’t even speak with my students’ parents alone. But when I became the group’s president, I got the courage to speak with people in high places and seek the help we needed,” she shared.
The group held a protest in the office of the National Housing Authority to demand a dialogue, but no government agency official faced them.
Ma’am Fe then approached Rep. Arlene Brosas of the Gabriela Women’s Partylist. The group helped her meet with various government agencies that could address her community’s concerns. Rep. Brosas introduced Ma’am Fe to Rep. Alfredo Benitez, then-Housing Committee Chair of the House of Representatives. Rep. Benitez told her that an abandoned government property may be awarded to its occupants of more than 10 years. This gave Ma’am Fe hope.
Ma’am Fe said she is thankful for SMTH because she learned that residents can open up to one another and help each other resolve their problems collectively. They also found groups and people willing to help them, such as Gabriela.
“The group Gabriela has helped a lot with our housing problem here,” averred Ma’am Fe.
Going outside her community and her comfort zone, she learned that the Executive Order (EO) 1086 issued by the late deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. (and the father of the current president) is still being used as a pretext for demolishing homes in her community. Learning more about laws, Ma’am Fe would assert that EO 221 issued 14 years later by the ousted president Joseph Estrada allows more consideration for residents’ demand for in-city relocation.
“As long as the elder Marcos’ EO 1086 is in effect, our homes are at risk of demolition. Our community is in an industrial zone. But the government can turn this area into mixed-use, for commercial and residential, so they can accommodate us. What our group wants is on-site relocation,” she said.
In response to reports of military presence in urban poor communities, Rep. Brosas visited Brgy. 101 and 105 in June 2023.
She paid a courtesy visit to the Brgy. 105 village office, but the village chairman did not meet her. Rep. Brosas spoke with the Brgy. 101 chairwoman, who said she was unaware of any reports of harassment by the military.
Ma’am Fe and other members of SMTH also sought the help of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on the issue of military deployment and red-tagging in urban poor communities.
The CHR held a dialogue with them in July 2023.
“We did not know a lot of things. They were not supposed to bring their long firearms into the communities,” Ma’am Fe said of what she learned from the meeting at the CHR.
Ma’am Fe learned later that the soldiers asked residents to sign papers pleading allegiance or “surrendering” to the government.
“Why will we surrender? What wrong have we done? They kept asking who I am and where I am from, even though I’ve told them many times,”said Ma’am Fe.
Ma’am Fe used to scavenge in the garbage in Smokey Mountain in her youth. She was 19 years old when a German who visited Smokey Mountain to take photos saw her and invited her to study to become a teacher for five kids he chose to support.
Since then, she has been a daycare teacher, which is why she is known in her community as Ma’am Fe. She has taught countless children in her community for free.
She used to get a small allowance for teaching. To make ends meet, she sold “hataw” products. She said these are watered-down shampoo and soap products that she repacks and resells. Aside from these, she also sold fish and shrimp in the nearby Divisoria. She had to be quick to clean the fish and shell the shrimp, or else local authorities would arrest her for littering if caught in the middle of preparing her goods. To make ends meet, she taught at the daycare in the morning, sold her wares in the afternoon, and prepared her goods in the evening.
She wanted to stop teaching because the paperwork to get teaching accreditation was complicated and costly. However, the children in the community who had already stopped attending public school kept asking her to teach them.
She resumed teaching even though she no longer received a teaching allowance. She worked to develop new teachers and built a daycare from the hazard pay she received. Her daycare holds three classes every day to cater to 70 students.
Soldiers labeled them as “NPA recruiters.” Ma’am Fe felt that this hurt her chances. While she did not win, Ma’am Fe continued her work as a teacher and health volunteer in the community.
“Why are the soldiers still here? What is their real purpose? Their salaries are wasted coming here every day, drinking here and there, and asking the men to drink with them to win their hearts and probably to get information,”said Ma’am Fe.
Apart from giving out ayuda, ” the 11th and 12th CMO’s Facebook page posts showed they tapped various organizations, businesses, government agencies, and social media influencers or vloggers to hold community activities such as gift-giving, feeding programs, and medical missions.
However, to Ma’am Fe, these are palliatives. Even with limited resources, her group has been providing these services to their neighbors. When a fire destroyed the homes in the nearby community, SMTH held a feeding program. The soldiers also held relief efforts.
She said civilian government agencies are mandated to provide these services, anyway. They should also provide not only stop-gap measures but also reliable social services and long-term solutions to poverty.
She also insisted that these short-term solutions and dole-outs should not come with overt surveillance, profiling, red-tagging, or military presence in their community.
“I told the soldiers that what we want is for the government to include us in their plans for development. If they have plans for the rich, I [hope they also] include us. Let us have a proper place to live where we will not be repeatedly displaced, have homes we can afford, and a livelihood. If you truly want to help us, pass this message on to the president,” said Ma’am Fe.
