Human rights group slams Aquino for rounding up homeless for Apec

By CONG B. CORRALES,
Associate Editor

NEW YORK-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has assailed the Aquino government for rounding up and detaining hundreds of homeless people, including children, to hide them during this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Started on Nov. 9, authorities rounded up several hundred homeless people from the streets and informal settlements in Manila and surroundin municipalities of Metro Manila and detained them without charge.

“Philippine authorities have violated the rights of hundreds of Manila residents to put a cynical veneer of ‘cleanliness’ on the city for APEC delegates,” said Phelim Kine, HRW deputy Asia director.

“The removal and detention of homeless and impoverished residents from where they live and work without due process is a violation of their basic human rights,” Kine added.

In an emailed statement, HRW said witnesses told them that police, barangay leaders, and government social workers rounded up people who are living in tents and makeshift houses.

“The people detained are then brought by truck to the Reception and Action Center (RAC), a social welfare facility run by the Manila city government. Adults and accompanied children from Manila are held at the RAC while children from Manila with no parents present are sent to Boys Town, a shelter for homeless children run by the Manila government in nearby Marikina. Many of those picked up, including people from outside Manila, are then sent to the Jose Fabella Center, a national governmentun facility for the homeless in neighboring Mandaluyong City,” HRW’s press advisory reads.

The human rights group said they interviewed a certain “Dario,” a scavenger arrested on a street near Roxas Boulevard, who told them the officials who detained him on Nov. 11 were “brutal.”

“They took our things or did not allow some of us to bring our belongings,” Dario told HRW.

Around 3,000 visiting state dignitaries, business leaders are in Manila this week which includes include President Barack Obama, President Xi Jinping of China, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, and more than a dozen other national leaders.

“Abusing Manila’s homeless population shouldn’t be part of the price tag for the Philippines government to host high-profile international events,” Kine said.

“Apec delegates should make it clear to their Philippine hosts that abusive ‘clearing operations’ against Manila’s most vulnerable residents only tarnish the reputations of the Philippines and Apec,” added Kine.