Asiaweek.com | What Price the Poor?

NOVEMBER 17, 2000 VOL. 26 NO. 45 | SEARCH ASIAWEEK

What Price the Poor?
Hopes for a better life are unfulfilled
By RAISSA ESPINOSA-ROBLES Manila

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• Interview: Business leader Ricardo Romulo says that the president must go

Standing stoically in the Manila sun, Lolita Torres awaits the start of the Nov. 4 rally against President Joseph Estrada. Several years ago she attended a different gathering — where Estrada promised her land, jobs and a lot of hope. She voted for him, but her optimism quickly waned. "We did not know that back-to-back with his promise was the demolition of our homes," says Torres, a squatter. Slum-clearings over just three months this year have ousted 2,629 families from their homes in Metro Manila. Another 7,737 houses remain on the demolition list. About a third of Manila's 10 million residents are permanently homeless, and that number is growing. No wonder Torres 44, is demanding Estrada's resignation.

People like Torres brought Estrada to power. When the former matinee idol bested nine rivals to win 40% of the presidential ballot (his 10.72 million votes were a record) in 1998, he did so mainly through the support of the poor. After all, in the movies he was always protecting the underdog. Now, as the elite business world calls for his head, Estrada insists that most Filipinos want him to remain president. But do they?

With the economy in a downward spin, Estrada's critics believe that the numbers of disillusioned poor will begin to balloon. Unemployment is running at 14% or about 4.75 million people. More than 48,000 workers were laid off in the first eight months this year, 52% of them in Metro Manila. More than 1,500 businesses have closed or sacked workers. Coconut farmers and sugar workers are reeling from depressed prices, and the two biggest labor groups have joined the clamor for a resignation. About 150 non-government organizations and 70 church groups are also mobilizing grassroots dissent.

Erlinda Villamil, 49, says she voted for the president because she thought he sided with the poor. "But what happened was, we became poorer," she says. Of seven family members, only her husband has work. Three of her children were laid off early this year. Villamil no longer credits Estrada's promise to provide land for Manila's squatters before his term ends in 2004. "Land is not just given away, you have to sweat for it," she says. Indeed, officials at Holy Spirit Village in suburban Manila waited only a few hours last month to reclaim gifts the president had distributed. After Estrada gave land titles to about 100 squatter families, officials demanded their return. Only for record purposes and to correct errors, they said.

The bulk of the 100,000-strong crowd on Nov. 4 never backed Estrada anyway. As he flew over the gathering to distribute relief supplies for typhoon victims east of Manila, the president caught a glimpse of his perceived foes. "It's not that big, not more than 45,000," he said. But Torres was there. So was Villamil. They care little for big business. But they feel cheated.

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