The poor woman seen clutching her Santo Niño and weeping bitterly on the front page of the March 5 Inquirer is Angelita Villaruel. Two weeks earlier, I praised her courage and that of the other women of Navotas who resisted efforts of the Navotas police to shove aside their human barricade and demolish their houses. The women were water cannoned and knocked down; they climbed to their feet and were knocked down again; they were clubbed by the police, but still they resisted. For two more weeks they resisted with the help of Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, Frs. Allan Lopez and Robert Reyes, and the lawyer and staff of Urban Poor Associates, CO Multiversity and COPE. Finally, on March 4 they were overwhelmed and their homes destroyed: one hundred shanties were knocked down and 243 families (1,200 men, women and mostly children) were left homeless.
read more...
