Online Center for Philippine Public Sector Workers
QC residents, gov’t employees continue to oppose biz district
Submitted by pubinfodepartment on Mon, 10/27/2008 - 09:11.
Members of the CONTRA-CBD held a press conference today to launch its fresh campaign against the multibillion peso business district project of the Quezon City and national governments, funded by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and big real estate conglomerates. Santiago Dasmariñas Jr., co-convener and spokesperson of CONTRA-CBD said, while Quezon City Mayor Feliciano "Sonny" Belmonte Jr. and Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo envision a state of the art business project, QC-CBD spells doom for more than 122,000 urban poor dwellers and thousands of government employees working in offices within the East and North Triangles. "Entire barangays of North Triangle, Palanas, San Roque, some portions of Barangay Pinyahan, San Isidro, and Veterans will be erased in the map of Quezon City. Although there are supposedly relocation plans as earlier pronounced by Mayor Sonny Belmonte, for us, it is just a sugarcoating to a very much bitter pill that QC and national governments want the people to swallow—loss of homes, jobs and livelihood," Dasmariñas said. According to QC-CBD’s blueprint, the prime lands of East and North Triangles and Veteran’s memorial will be developed into a business and leisure haven. Medium and high rise buildings, business process outsourcing establishments, and leisure parks are expected to rise on the 250.6 hectares of lands. "Aside from the homes that are to be bulldozed, included in the demolition and transfers are the Office of the Ombudsman, Sugar Regulatory Administration compound, including the National Food Authority National office, Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, National Power Corporation, Bureau of Internal Revenue, National Printing Office, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas QC office, Land Transportation Office and Land Transport Franchising and Regulatory Board," Dasmariñas disclosed. "And if these are to be sold and transferred, then there will be massive layoff." "As an opening salvo of selling and transferring government offices, unless stave-off by the employees’ protests, the Department of Agriculture will be transferred to Ilagan, Isabela. To follow are the Golden Acres, in Tanay, Rizal and Department of Agrarian Reform in Davao City," added Dasmariñas. Meanwhile, Alberto Evangelista of the Nagkakaisang Naninirahan sa North Triangle (N3T), a convenor of CONTRA-CBD said, the true intention of both local and national governments in hurrying up the implementation of the project is to rake more profits and gains through taxes and perks. "Mayor Belmonte himself admitted in an interview with the Probe Team, that QC-CBD is truly for profit. He said on that interview that the city government only gets around P50 million worth of taxes from the establishments located on the affected areas and that giving the lands to private corporations for development could mean more taxes," Evangelista said. Soledad Belvis, president of the Aksyon ng mga Mamamayan ng Barangay Central Laban sa CBD or Aksyon Central, an organization of residents of Brgy. Central and also a convenor of CONTRA-CBD, added, since the private sector and giant finacial institutions like WB and ADB are involved on this endeavor, it is expected that these conglomerates and institutions will also expect profit. John Gokongwei Jr., the Sy brothers, Lucio Tan and Jaime Zobel de Ayala are the ones interested in the development of the 250-hectare business district. "Since the funding from ADB and WB is in form of loans, therefore, it is the Filipino people will pay for it," she furthered. CONTRA-CBD will hold a big protest rally in front of Quezon City Hall on October 27. They will be joined by the members of COURAGE and KADAMAY. (Press Release)