made to consult or otherwise engage with any of the communities to be affected.
Respondents stated that at their instigation a tri-partite committee was eventually
established, including government, community and NGO representatives, to oversee
the eviction and resettlement aspects of the project. The first phase of settlers were
relocated by the NHA in 1993 to a site outside the city at Montalban and were
reportedly happy with their conditions of transfer and the resettlement site; however,
the tripartite committee was disbanded soon after.
Protracted negotiations ensued between various government representatives and the
SRCC-NTA on the details of the resettlement plan from the late 1990s. The original
preference of the community was for single-detached dwelling units constructed onsite. However, after negotiations the community agreed to the construction of
medium rise buildings, as long as they were on site.
During May 2004 the area was engulfed by a fire, which destroyed a substantial portion
of the settlement. Respondents reported that in the following days the Quezon City
Government sent a bulldozer to demolish the areas destroyed by fire, which was
prevented from entering the community by a human blockade of community members.
Sometime in 2005 the SRCC-NTA became aware that the World Bank was being
engaged to prepare a development plan for the site. This plan is not available
publicly, but respondents reported that the World Bank advised that a component for
social housing be included in the development. Respondents noted a breakdown in
negotiations from 2006, having learned that social or low cost housing was not to be
LEF T: A S HO PPI N G
TH OROUG H FAR E
IN S IDE SAN ROQUE.
The San Roque
community is wellestablished, having been
founded in the 1960s,
and has a noticeably
permanent internal
infrastructure of streets
and shopping areas.
70 Human Rights in the Rubble