Kadamay, an urban poor group known for forcibly occupying government housing projects, today arrived at a residential development meant for police and soldiers in Bacolod City to demand free homes from the government.
Bombo Radyo Bacolod reported that no less than 1,500 members of Kadamay arrived today at Barangay (village) Felisa. According to ABS-CBN News, the group brought their belongings with them as well as their children.
Kadamay first came to prominence in April last year when it forcibly occupied a housing project meant for government workers in Pandi, Bulacan. They demanded that the houses be given to them for free, as well as basic services such as water and electricity.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ended up letting Kadamay stay in the housing units, but as recently as February of this year, the National Housing Authority (NHA), the government agency responsible for developing such residential projects, reportedly still has plans to evict them.
This time, however, the group denied that they have plans to occupy the Bacolod City project, but used the show of force to ask the NHA to have a negotiation with them.
According to the group, the 1,498 houses have been unoccupied since 2013 and that they have been requesting the NHA to give it to them, instead of awarding them to police and soldiers, the original beneficiaries.
Kadamay said that only eight out of the 1,498 houses have residents, but in an interview with Bombo Radyo Bacolod, NHA Bacolod’s head Alejandro Ongsuco insisted that all of the houses have already been given to their intended beneficiaries.
