Robredo was with us at height of habagat floods – urban poor

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InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

MANILA - “Tuwid na daan” (straight path) was more than a slogan for Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, said urban poor groups with whom he consulted on the P50-billion national shelter program. Robredo was pro-poor and this showed in how he spent time with them at the height of the habagat floods several weeks ago.

“While some public officials saw in the post-habagat situation an opportunity to forcibly evict informal settler families from their shanties, Secretary Jesse made sure that urban poor groups were consulted and made co-implementors of an orderly relocation plan,” said the National Anti-Poverty Commission/Informal Settler Families Groups in a statement on his death.

At the height of the monsoon floods a couple of weeks ago, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson had quoted the President as saying that informal settlers living by overflowing creeks and other waterways must be forcibly removed, “blasted” away if they persist on staying in the danger zones.

In the last few days before the August 18 plane crash, Robredo met with leaders of urban poor groups almost every day to craft a mutually-agreed and orderly resettlement plan for thousands of informal settler families affected by the habagat flooding. 

“While some government agencies would throw informal settlers out to far-flung provinces without adequate jobs and social services, Secretary Jesse exhausted every option to heed the informal settler families groups’ demand for onsite and in-city relocation,” they said.   

In the two years that he was interior and local government secretary, Jesse Robredo worked closely with urban poor groups and helped push the multi-year P50-billion national shelter program that espouses in-city relocation.

“In such a short period, we’ve seen a public official who not only had the heart for the homeless and the disempowered but also the will to fulfill a purpose for us,” they said.

Unfinished business

Tomorrow, August 22, he was supposed to meet with them again at the office of the National Anti-Poverty Commission to complete the drafting of a DILG Memorandum Circular on the orderly relocation of these informal settlers living in danger zones.

“The outpouring of love for SILG Jesse Robredo, not only from his family, friends, and colleagues in government but also from ordinary masses, attests to the kind of person and leader that he was,” the NAPC/ISF Group said.

“Secretary Jesse Robredo was truly a champion of good governance, simplicity and integrity of public service.  His life should continue to inspire many Filipinos, especially government officials - that indeed ‘tuwid na landas’ can be more than just a slogan,” they added. 

As a tribute to the champion of “tuwid na landas” and trustworthy ally of the poor, informal settler families sponsored a mass and candle-lighting tribute for Robredo at St. Peter’s Church, Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City, today at 5 p.m.

 

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