Poor people dumped like garbage in Manila (Philippines)

Maybe hundreds, some say even thousands. For "illegal" squatters are nowhere registered. According to the Philippine doctor Firmalo, "the decomposition of the bodies will be much faster because they are caught in wet, hot packs of trash".
The fact that the Third World poor are considered to be not worth more than trash and that they can be dumped accordingly, couldn't be illustrated in a more litteral way. A community health worker in Payatas sighed: "The poor always end up the losers".
The Payatas dumpsite has existed for 27 years and covers 22 hectares. It is "home" to some 60,000 people, and it is the successor to the Smokey Mountain, which was closed down in 1993.

Medical Aid for the Third World has been working in the Philippines since many years. Its local partners, among NGOs and people's organisations, have immediately taken initiatives for medical and social assistance to the affected slum area. For this purpose, they set up Task Force Damayan ("mutual assistance") opgezet. The people's organisation Bayan declared that "such a tragedy was waiting to happen" and that it "reflected the failure of the government's housing and livelihood programs".
Our partner the Council for Health and Development has visited the site to determine the needs and to take on the concrete relief work, together with the local community organisations. They also protest against the Philippine authorities, who are blaming the poor slum dwellers for the disaster.

Currently, four development workers and eight medical students of Medical Aid for the Third World are active in the Philippines. Together with the poor Filipino's, they are working hard to diminish the consequences of poverty and to identify and fight its root causes, including in the Payatas case.

We call on you to financially support the relief efforts of the Council for Health and Development in Payatas. You can donate on account number 001-2571952-73 of the "Fonds Hilde Vanobberghen", Kazernestraat 68, 1000 Brussels, Belgium, with mention of "Philippines-emergency aid".

For more information on the Philippines and on the health work of Medical Aid for the Third World: the undersigned and his wife wrote a book on their eight years' experience as development workers in the Philippines: "Kasama. The Philippine Struggle for Health and Liberation throught the Eyes of Two Belgian Doctors". It costs 15 US dollar (freight included) and can be ordered from AIB, Kazernestraat 68, 1000 Brussels.

arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)