LOOK: At least 23,000 residents and wastepickers in Brgy. 128, Smokey Mountain, Tondo are facing forced evictions ordered by the City Government of Manila under Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso to pave the way for a waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration plant backed by the Bongbong Marcos administration and billionaire Ramon S. Ang of the San Miguel Corporation.
Community group Nagkakaisa at Nagdadamayang Marala Organization (NANAMO), and militantly backed by people’s organizations including Anakbayan National Capital Region, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), AGHAM Youth, and Kalikasan, stressed that the evictions are being carried out without genuine consultation, humane resettlement, or livelihood alternatives.
These violate the people’s basic rights. Residents denounced the demolitions as a deliberate attempt to weaken organized resistance to the WTE project, which international institutions themselves had previously scrapped over environmental and social concerns.
Smokey Mountain, long a symbol of urban poor struggles and survival, is once again at the center of conflict between people’s right to housing and livelihood, and profit-driven projects that worsen inequality and environmental harm.
The people’s demands:
• No in-city relocation, no demolition
• Junk the Smokey Mountain WTE project
• Sustainable housing and livelihood programs for urban poor communities
• Accountability of Mayor Isko Moreno, President Marcos Jr., and their big business partners
