[asia-apec 1486] Action Alert: Dumpsite crash kills 84; 942 remain missing

[BAYAN]

ACTION ALERT! 
(Widest possible circulation requested.)

From: Bayanihan Alay Sa Sambayan (BALSA, Relief in Service of the People)
A Disaster Relief Campaign of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN)


DUMPSITE CRASH KILLS 84; 942 REMAIN MISSING  

On the morning of July 11, just days after floods swamped Metro Manila and
huge
portions of Luzon, a 50-foot "mountain" of garbage in the Payatas dumpsite
collapsed and buried 500 shanties  in Quezon City. 

As of  3:00 pm yesterday, July 11, eighty-four (84) bodies have been recovered
from under the stinking pike of garbage that collapsed on their houses. Nine
hundred forty-two (942) remain missing, and hopes are diminishing that they
would survive,  even as rescuers are racing against time to recover them or
their bodies.

According to KADAMAY, a national urban poor organization and a member of the
militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU, May First Labor Center), a total of three
thousand (3,000) persons eke out a living in Payatas as scavengers, vendors,
drivers of pedicab and jeepneys, and other odd jobs in this community
ironically  named Lupang Pangako (Promised Land).  There are five hundred
(500)
shanties built in this area, the size of four football fields.

Currently, the one thousand nine hundred fifty (1,950) survivors of the
avalanche have sought temporary refuge in two evacuation centers when the
dumpsite collapsed.

Seven "purok" of Phase II in Payatas B were badly affected by the collapse of
the garbage mountain. Most of the victims and their families are members of
SAMAHANG TUNAY (roughly translated as Genuine Organization), a local
member-organization of KADAMAY and ANAKBAYAN (a  mass organization of youths).

Rudy Gino, leader of SANGKAP (Organization of Neighbors in Phase II), another
local member-organization of KADAMAY, perished in the avalanche along with his
wife.  His children are still unaccounted for. Another woman leader of
SANGKAP 
lost her shanty when it was razed to the ground by a power line which went
down
as the ground gave way.

ANAKBAYAN also reported that one of its numerous members there was killed. 

In addition, a rescuer by the name of Noel, a veteran organizer, was also
killed.

This sad incident reflects the worsening plight of the urban poor under the
Estrada government whose pretensions at being pro-poor have been buried under
the weight of its actual negligence of the poor and service to big foreign
business interests. 

Support in the form of relief goods, medicines and monetary donations may be
sent to BAYAN's national office at 23 Maamo Street, Sikatuna Village, Quezon
City and telephone numbers (63 2) 4359151 and (63 2) 9225211. Checks should be
made payable to BAYAN.  

We hope that with your support, the families of the victims in Payatas B will
find the courage and the determination to carry on with their lives and to
resolve to organize themselves not only for their rights and welfare; but 
ultimately, to build a truly democratic and just society where people will no
longer scavenge or stay in a filthy place, nor be dirt-poor such as those in
Payatas

July 12. 2000
Philippines


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	 B A Y A N
	 Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or New Patriotic Alliance
	 No. 23 Maamo Street, Sikatuna Village
	 Quezon City, PHILIPPINES							      	
	 Telephone: (63-2) 435-9151       Telefax: (63-2) 922-5211
	 Email:   <bayan at iname.com>
	 Webpage: http://www.bigfoot.com/~bayan-phils 	      	

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