Building homes out of houses for vulnerable groups

(Conclusion)

Under the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines’ (CHRP) Human Rights Advisory No. A2012-002, eviction activities must be exercised with care and caution.

Forced evictions are presumed to be incompatible with state obligations to protect the right to adequate and decent housing. They, in themselves, are a gross violation of human rights.

Meanwhile, demolition is not as intrusive as a forced eviction. Nevertheless, it has implications on the right to enjoy one’s property and the principle that no person shall be deprived of his property without due process of law.

Thus, the right to adequate housing includes protection from arbitrary demolition and home demolition.

Land tenure system

It is the Philippine State’s policy to provide for an equitable land tenure system that shall guarantee security of tenure for underprivileged and homeless citizens against forced eviction, harassment, and other threats, as provided by law.

In this regard, favorable access to civil, land, and property documentation shall be provided to them. Moreover, beneficiaries of resettlement program sites are entitled to several support services, such as land surveys and titling at minimal cost, exemption from the payment of documentary stamp tax, registration fees, and other fees for the issuance of transfer certificates of title.

Right to adequate housing

Meanwhile, the CHRP recognizes informal settlers’ rights to adequate housing and humane treatment under Advisory No. A2011-003. For this purpose, the right to adequate housing comprises of: (a) protection against forced evictions and the arbitrary destruction and demolition of one’s home; (b) the right to be free from arbitrary interference with one’s home, privacy, and family; and (c) the right to choose one’s residence, to determine where to live, and to freedom of movement.

For housing to be adequate, the occupants must enjoy legal protection against forced evictions, harassment, and other threats. They are likewise entitled to availability of services, materials, facilities, and infrastructure, accessible, affordable, ideally located, and habitable housing, and housing that respects the expression of cultural identity.

As with persons affected by national disasters, evictions and demolitions concerning informal settlers are presumably incompatible with the Philippine State’s obligation to fulfill, protect, and respect their right to adequate housing.

Nevertheless, the law allows for these activities only when: (a) persons or entities occupy danger areas, including esteros, railroad tracks, garbage dumps, riverbanks, shorelines, waterways, and other public places; (b) government infrastructure projects with available funding are about to be implemented; and (c) there is a court order for these activities. Meanwhile, evictions or displacements of population should be avoided or minimized in any development project or business venture involving the State. The government should explore fully all possible alternatives to evictions.

Adequate consultation

A demolition or an eviction shall only proceed before a committee composed of concerned government agencies and instrumentalities, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and police officers, after adequate consultation with the affected informal settlers.

Adequate consultation in this context shall include effective information dissemination, reasonable time for the public to review and comment on the proposed plan or project, provision of legal, technical, and other advice about the settlers’ rights and options, public hearings, and where no agreement has been reached, an independent body having constitutional authority, such as a court, which shall mediate, arbitrate, or adjudicate, as may be appropriate.

If legally justified, demolitions or evictions shall be done pursuant to the general principles of proportionality and reasonableness. Thus, unnecessary and disproportionate force should never be used, especially against the informal settlers themselves. Moreover, they should not result in the settlers being rendered homeless or vulnerable to the violation of other human rights.