[asia-apec 224] FORM LETTER TO 17 HEADS OF STATE ATTENDING APEC SUMMIT

[RVerzola]

Below is a letter of the Manila-based Urban Poor Associates (UPA) to
the 17 heads of states coming to Manila for the APEC meeting, on the
issue of urban poor relocations due to APEC preparations.

Obet Verzola

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                                   November 4, 1996


PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON
White House
Washington, D.C.
USA


PRIME MINISTER JOHN HOWARD, M.P.
MG8 Parliament House
Canberra, A.C.T. 2600
AUSTRALIA


HIS MAJESTY SULTAN HADJI HASSANAL BOLKIAH
BRUNEI, DARRUSALAM


PRIME MINISTER JEAN CHRETIEN
Langevin Block, 80 Wellington St.
Ottawa, Ontario K1A0A2
CANADA


PRESIDENT PATRICIO AYLWIN AZOCAR
Palacio Dela Moneda
Santiago
CHILE


PRESIDENT JIANG ZE-MIN
Beijing Shi 100032
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA


GOV. CHRISTOPHER PATTEN
Governor's Office
HONGKONG


PRESIDENT SUHARTO
Merdeka Palace
Jl. Medan, Merdeka Usara
INDONESIA


PRIME MINISTER RYUTARO HASHIMOTO
Prime Minister's Office
6-1 Nagata Cho, 1 Chome Chiyodo-Ku
100 Tokyo, JAPAN


PRESIDENT KIM YOUNG-SAM
The Blue House
1 Sejong-No, Chongno-Gu
Seoul, KOREA


PRIME MINISTER DATO SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMMAD
Jalo Dato Onn, Kuala Lumpur
MALAYSIA


PRESIDENT ERNESTO ZEDILLO PONCE DE LEON
Palacio Nacional
C.P. 06065, Mexico
D.F. MEXICO


PRIME MINISTER JIM BOLGER
Parliament House
Office of the Prime Minister
Wellington, NEW ZEALAND


PRIME MINISTER JULIUS CHAN
Office of the Prime Minister
PAPUA NEW GUINEA


PRIME MINISTER GOH CHOK TONG
250 North Bridge Road
07-00 Raffles City Tower
SINGAPORE  0617


PRESIDENT LEE TENG-HUI
Office of the President
122 Chungking South Road
Section 1, Taipei
TAIWAN


PRIME MINISTER BARHARN SILPA-ARCHA
Government House
Bangkok, THAILAND


DATO AJIT SINGH
Secretary General
ASEAN
70-A J. Sisingamangaraja
P.O. Box 2072
Jakarta, INDONESIA

Your Execellencies,

     We write on behalf of Urban Poor Associates a church related
non-government organization working in Metro Manila to respectfully
call Your Excellency's attention to the massive and unceasing
demolitions and forced evictions of the urban poor in Metropolitan
Manila, by the Philippine government, as it prepares for Your
Excellency's visit, and the forthcoming Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) Summit.

     As early as June 1996, Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos
himself ordered the mayors of Metropolitan Manila to "reduce the
eyesores" in the metropolis, including urban poor communities, in time
for the APEC summit.  Shortly thereafter, the Metro Manila Development
Authority was granted Philippine Peso 25 milion (or US $1 million) to
beautify the metropolis, also in preparation for the said summit, and
particularly to clear shanty towns in areas where APEC delegates are
likely to pass.  Former military general Lisandro Abadia, currently
director-general of APEC's national organization commission, recently
directed the mayor of a city in Metro Manila, as follows:

          "In connection with the directive of President Ramos
     to clear the reclamation area along Roxas Boulevard of
     squatters due to the APEC Summit, please exert all efforts
     and initiative to remove said squatters as soon as possible."

In September, 1996, Abadia publicly announced that Metropolitan Manila
would be "cleared of squatters in time for APEC."  The Philippine
President, however, publicly and repeatedly denies that the ongoing
demolitions are connected with the country's hosting of the APEC
summit.

     Since June of this year, demolitions of homes and forced
evictions of the urban poor have been occuring with alarming frequency.
As the date of the APEC summit nears, demolitions and forced evictions
occur almost daily.  Close to 437,450 families of the urban poor in
Metro Manila (some 2.6 million Filipino men, women and children, almost
one-third of the entire population of the metropolis) are in danger of
eviction by government.

     Already, some 33,500 urban poor families--201,000 Filipino women,
men and children--residing along Roxas Boulevard and Manila Bay
Reclamation Area, Freedom Island, Makati, Pasay, Muntinlupa, Paco,
Malate and along the tracks of the Philippine National Railways that
span Caloocan City to Laguna, have been forcibly evicted, their homes
demolished, dispossessed of their belongings, rendered homeless.

     The most recent demolition occured only on 23 October 1996, when
about one hundred blue-shirted men sent by Manila's City Hall began
tearing down homes straddling a drainage canal called Estero de Paco.
At least twenty persons, mostly women and children, who joined other
residents in a human barricade, were hurt in scuffles with the
demolition team.  Among those injured were a four-year old child, and
another boy, of unknown age, whose both arms were broken.

     The large scale and frequent incidence of demolitions and forced
evictions, in preparation for the APEC summit, displays the failure of
the Philippine Government to comply with its avowed obligations under
both the Philippine Constitution and law, and international law on
human rights.

     The continuing onslaught of demolitions and forced evictions is
undertaken in disregard not only of Republic Act 7279, specifically
Section 28 [on the conduct of demolition and eviction in a just and
humane manner] but also international law and the mandate of the
Constitution concerning the right to adequate housing.

     In July 1996, Philippine President Ramos called on the APEC
environment ministers to ensure that economic growth is spread evenly
and benefits the poor.  Yet, it is indeed ironic that, despite the
President's call, his government is responsible for the blatant
violation of the rights of the urban poor in Metropolitan Manila, as
his government continues to embark on demolitions and forced evictions
as it ardently prepares for the APEC summit.

     Urban Poor Associates therefore most respectfully and strongly
urges Your Excellency to:

     *  Express grave concern over the ongoing demolitions and forced
evictions of the urban poor in Metropolitan Manila, in preparation for
the APEC summit, and to call on the Philippine President to take
immediate action to end the conduct of demolitions and forced
evictions; and

     *  Urge the Philippine Government to give due consideration to
the United Nation's EUN ESC's Committees Concluding Observations and
Recommendations of the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights Committee, particularly those related to the question of the
right to adequate standard of living, which includes the right to
housing; and to call on the Philippine Government to exert every
effort to provide the highest priority to the enactment of measures
that protect and enhance the right of all the people to human dignity,
reduce social, economic and political inequalities, and equitably
diffuse wealth for the common good.

     Such acts on Your Excellency's part would be most welcome to both
Philippine and international public opinion, as it would exhibit Your
Excellency's genguine commitment to the protection and promotion of
all human rights, particularly of the poor, who are most vulnerable to
abuse.

     Thank you.

                                   Respectfully,



                                   MA. FIDES F. BAGASAO
                                   Chairperson



                                   DENIS MURPHY
                                   Coordinator

P.S.  Please consider this to be valid even if, for technical reasons,
it does not bear any signature.