Payatas Speaks: The Cry for Housing Rights Amid Corruption and Crisis

In Payatas, Quezon City, where thousands of families live under the constant threat of eviction and disaster, a collective cry rises, “Karapatan sa paninirahan, hindi pangakong kinalimutan.”

For years, Payatas has symbolized the struggle of the urban poor: a community forgotten by the national and local government except when it becomes convenient for photo opportunities or political promises. Yet, amid billion-peso flood control projects riddled with corruption allegations and a worsening housing crisis, the people of Payatas are standing up. They are no longer waiting for relief. They are demanding long-sought justice.

No Rights, No Certainty of Residence

In a community consultation convened by the Town Council for Housing Rights and Assurance, and supported by Buklod Kapayapaan and Haligi ng Kayapaan (HAKAP) NCR, residents said they live without security of tenure or home ownership, without basic services, and with no assurance they will still have a roof over their heads tomorrow.

Under Article XIII, Section 9 of the 1987 Constitution, the State is duty-bound to ensure adequate housing and humane living conditions for all, especially for the underprivileged in urban areas. But for decades, this constitutional promise has remained a broken contract and only replaced by relocation programs that displace rather than uplift, and infrastructure projects that enrich contractors while burying the poor deeper into poverty.

VOICES OF HOPE AND DETERMINATION. Residents, mostly women and mothers, share their stories, struggles, and dreams during the community consultation on housing and basic services. Their participation shows that real solutions begin when people are heard. / Photo Courtesy of Arian Jane Ramos

The People’s Strength: A Coordinating Body for Justice

From this consultation emerged a Coordinating Body. This is a coalition of community leaders determined to become the organized voice of Payatas. They vow to serve as the  bridge between the citizens and government agencies, ensuring that the poor are no longer left out of the policy table.

“This is not just another meeting,” said one community leader. “This is a stand for rights and justice. We are tired of being invisible.”

Their unified message is for the government to recognize and protect their housing rights, strengthen citizen participation in decision-making, and promote peace rooted in justice.

Hope Amid Hardship

According to Dada Hernandez, Secretary of HAKAP NCR, the workshop sessions revealed the heartfelt priorities of the people, most of whom are mothers, daily workers, and informal settlers who have struggled for years to survive despite state neglect.

“They may be poor, but they are not powerless,” Hernandez said. “In our Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), the women spoke with such clarity and hope. They dream not of luxury, but of dignity, a life where their families can have a simple home, access to health, livelihood, and clean surroundings.”

From their collective discussions, the following top needs of the community emerged:

1. Paninirahan — Lupa at Bahay (Land and Housing)

2. Basura — Proper Waste Management

3. Gamot at Doktor — Accessible Health Workers

4. Kalusugan — Community Health Care

5. Pangkabuhayan — Sustainable Livelihood

Each of these priorities reflects not just social demands but constitutional rights. These are rights that the government has to fulfill.

“LUPA AT BAHAY, KALUSUGAN, AT KABUHAYAN.” Community members present their top priorities during the Payatas Housing Rights Workshop, emphasizing the call for secure land, proper waste management, accessible health services, and sustainable livelihood. / Photo Courtesy of Arian Jane Ramos

Why Payatas fights: a brief, sobering history

Payatas carries deep scars. On July 10, 2000, a massive trash-slide at the Payatas dumpsite killed more than 200 residents and destroyed homes. This was one of the country’s worst urban disasters which spurred reforms and eventually led to the facility’s closure years later. 

Even after the dump’s shutdown in 2017 due to environmental violations and slide risks, families dependent on the area’s junk economy struggled, and relocation tensions persisted. 

Over decades, Payatas has also been a venue for intense community organizing by church groups, NGOs, and political formations. Protests over housing and demolitions drew national-democratic organizations such as Anakpawis, Anakbyan, Gabriela and Kadamay into Payatas marches and mobilizations. Campaigns such as the Lupang Pangako to Quezon City Hall reflected how the area became a rallying point for urban poor advocacy, and a source of income-generating projects and foreign funding for NGOs. 

Such urban organizing spaces in Metro Manila were also used by CPP–NPA–NDF networks for recruitment. Former rebels said communities around Payatas became safe havens for underground and Party meetings, and a number of residents, who were mostly youth, joined the NPA and were deployed to the Ilocos–Cordillera region.  

A Call to the Nation

The Payatas struggle is not isolated. It mirrors the broader crisis faced by millions of Filipinos across the country, from the flood-prone settlements in Bicol to the earthquake-affected zones in Mindanao. While billions are poured into infrastructure and flood control projects that often end up in corruption scandals, ordinary citizens are left without homes, healthcare, or security.

The people of Payatas remind us that peace cannot exist without justice, and justice cannot exist when the right to shelter, the most basic of human dignities, is denied.

Their movement is a declaration that “Hindi kami kawawa. Kami ang mamamayan. At kami ay lalaban para sa aming karapatan.” [We are not pitiable. We are the people. And we will fight for our rights.]

Hope as Resistance

Amid the uncertainty of land and livelihood, the people’s unity has become their greatest weapon. For Payatas, the fight for housing is not just about walls and roofs, but about reclaiming dignity, asserting citizenship, and demanding that the State live up to its promises.

They may not have rights on paper, but they have voice and resolve. “A government that ignores the cries of its poorest people cannot call itself democratic,” said Hernandez. “It is time for the government not just to see, not just to listen but to act, with justice and compassion.”