Payatas: The Story of a Tragedy

Payatas: The Story of a Tragedy

(A Primer on the Payatas Tragedy)

Prepared by KADAMAY and Task Force Damayan

Lupang Pangako in Payatas, Quezon City (QC) is your typical thriving community. It has rows of
houses, paved streets, a marketplace, church, school, daycare, multipurpose hall, barangay
hall, police station, basketball court, electricity, water system, and other facilities and
structures necessary for daily living.
There are around 15,000 residents in Lupang Pangako before the tragedy that struck last July
10. A large majority of the residents though are what we term as the urban poor, who are
mostly drivers, vendors, construction workers, factory workers, government employees, and
non-regular service workers. Contrary to government propaganda and the lie spread in the
mass media, not all residents are scavengers whose lives depend largely on the nearby
dumpsite.
Lupang Pangako, which if translated means Promised Land, served as a relocation site for
urban poor families whose homes in other parts of QC, like Cubao, Tatalon, and Pinyahan, were
previously demolished by order of the government. Many of the residents who were relocated
there by the city government in 1988 and 1989 have already experienced at least three
demolitions in their lifetime.
As the population grew, the people saw the need to organize themselves into associations in
order to advance their rights and welfare. For every alley of houses, a leader was assigned by
the poor residents themselves to attend to their basic concerns.
Indeed Lupang Pangako is your typical urban poor community which is worlds apart to the
plush subdivisions which now surrounds it. It is no different to the slums which presently dot
other cities and municipalities. It is a living testament to the impoverishment currently
experienced by our country.
History of Payatas
Lupang Pangako, which used to be called Urban, is situated within the contested 2,818-hectare
Payatas Estate where a large part of the land is presently occupied by big subdivisions owned
by big landlords. It is near the La Mesa Dam, the Marikina-Montalban River, and the
municipalities of San Mateo and Rodriguez (formerly Montalban) in the province of Rizal.
The Payatas Estate was first registered with the Roguera family in 1907 under Original
Certificate of Title No. 333. It was then transferred to Nanjo Kaisha Ltd., a Japanese corporation,
in 1920. Back then, it was considered an unclassified public forest by the Bureau of Forestry.
But when Quezon City was formed, 53% of the land area covered by Payatas Estate (the
present 2,818 hectares) became part of the city. This covers six different barangays, one of
which is Barangay Payatas where Lupang Pangako is located. The rest of the barangays are
Commonwealth, Batasan Hills, Holy Spirit, Fairview, and Silangan.
Around 907 hectares of the Estate which now forms part of Quezon City is occupied by the
Novaliches Reservoir (or La Mesa Dam) and 444 hectares is part of the National Government
Center (NGC). The remaining 1,467 hectares is occupied by big subdivisions such as Capitol
View, Empire View and Capitol Homes, and by pockets of urban poor communities.
In 1995, the whole of Payatas Estate has a recorded population of 311,502. Today, the
population is estimated to be around 450,000-600,000.

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Payatas: The Story of a Tragedy

History of the Dumpsite

While it is said that a portion of Barangay Payatas was designated as a dumpsite in 1973, the
dump has not grown significantly before 1990. Residents of Lupang Pangako contend that until
1988 and 1989, they were still able to see the House of Congress in the distance.
They would also have to look down to view the faraway dumpsite which is 2-3 kilometers away
from Lupang Pangako and is situated below the community at a height equivalent to 3-5
storeys.
When then President Fidel Ramos ordered the closure of Smokey Mountain in Tondo, Manila
(another mountain of garbage symbolic of the widespread poverty experienced by our country)
in 1993 after a bloody demolition between the police and the urban poor residents, a large
portion of the 6,000 metric tons of garbage churned out daily by Metro Manila were transferred
and dumped at the San Mateo Landfill in Rizal and at Payatas.
Gradually the garbage rose until Lupang Pangako looked more like a gargantuan spectacle of
trash than your typical urban poor neighborhood.
The Payatas dumpsite made life more miserable and hazardous for the thousands of poor
people who live in the once Promised Land. The open dumpsite openly invited all sorts of
diseases. Methane and other toxic chemicals emitted by the garbage heap can cause various
respiratory illnesses. Business in the marketplace also went down until the only profitable
business were those related to scavenging garbage. Finally, the poor folks had to bear with the
stigma attached to being a resident of the area -- that they who live in Lupang Pangako or even
in Payatas are filthy, foul-smelling, and diseased.
By 1993, there has already been recommendations for the closure of the dumpsite. According
to VBB Viak Consulting Engineers, a Swedish group commissioned by the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to study the possibility of leachate intrusion into
the nearby La Mesa Dam, the dumpsite has already reached its limit and has already been the
cause of environmental and health-related problems. The La Mesa Dam is the main source of
drinking water for the whole of Metro Manila.
The group also warned on the possibility of a garbage-slide due to the steepness of the slope
and the sloppy way by which the trash is dumped in the area.
Newly-elected president Joseph Estrada then ordered the closure of the Payatas dumpsite in
1998 primarily due to the pressure of former president Ramos. He then formed the Task Force
for the Development of Payatas appointed Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA)
Chair Jejomar Binay to head the closure, transformation and eventual development of the
dumpsite.
Nothing happened of the Task Force since the President has no political initiative whatsoever to
effect his closure order. The president himself is veritably utilizing Payatas and its residents to
project its pro-poor image. Also, the dumpsite itself is a huge business for government and a
few powerful individuals.
Money in Trash
Land-owners, garbage contractors, and government officials reap huge profits from the
mountain of garbage which imperilled the lives of thousands. According to the Center for
Research and Communication (now also called University of Asia and Pacific), the collection and
dumping of garbage is an industry worth P2.1 billion annually.
A research by the Philippine Daily Inquirer revealed that dumpsite operators rake about
P50,000 daily or P1.5 million monthly by merely allowing the QC government and its garbage
collectors to dump garbage in an 11-hectare property in Payatas. They charge about P100-500
as entrance fee for every truck allowed to dump garbage in their property.
The dumpsite is actually divided into two areas. The 11-hectare land is the so-called Lesser

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Payatas: The Story of a Tragedy

Dumpsite owned by Tommy and Sandra Rovero-Cox of Meteor Company. It is the dumpsite
which is near the community of Lupang Pangako. The Greater Dumpsite which occupies 19
hectare is owned by the Halili family of TOFEMI Realty.
There are several garbage contractors allowed to dumped garbage in Payatas. These
contractors are the collectors of trash coming from QC and the cities of Manila, San Juan,
Makati, and Muntinlupa. They have multi-million contracts with the said city governments as
well as with large private establishments which produce a significant volume of trash, for
example, shopping malls, hospitals, hotels, and subdivisions.
One of the biggest garbage contractors in Payatas is REN Transport owned by Reynaldo
Pascugin III. REN used to have an exclusive contract for garbage collection in the whole of QC.
It makes us many as 500-600 trips to the Payatas dumpsite daily. For example, a large portion
of the P460 million budget of the QC government for garbage collection for this year goes to
REN Transport alone.
Reportedly, another of the biggest garbage contractor in Payatas, Chuck Mathay of the Pusong
Makabayan foundation, is the son of the Mayor Mel Mathay of Quezon City.
Barangay Payatas officials also make money out of the operations of the dumpsite. When
Barangay Chair Emerita Pecson was appointed dumpsite administrator in January 1999, she
allowed the construction of junkshops right on top of the dumpsite. Pecson was even charged
for breaking environmental laws when it was discovered that the wood used for the
construction of the junkshops were from trees cut in the La Mesa Dam. Pecson charges P5,000
for every junkshop set up in the dumpsite and P3,000 as montly rental fee. While rates go
these high, she writes only P100 in the official receipt given to junkshop owners.
Garbage-Slide
The first recorded incident of garbage-slide occured in Lupang Pangako in August 3, 1999
during the height of a typhoon. While only pigs were killed in that incident, 32 families lost their
homes.
The affected families and their supporters from Samahang Tunay (Genuine Organization), a
local organization of KADAMAY in Payatas, held several pickets and protest actions in the
Quezon City Hall demanding a stop to the dumping of garbage in Payatas. They even held a
dialogue with Mayor Mel Mathay but their demand fell on deaf ears, including their request that
they be given new housing.
A year after, the Quezon City government has done nothing on the growing demand of Lupang
Pangako residents to immediately close the Payatas dumpsite. A year after, another garbageslide occured on the fateful morning of July 10, several times worse than the first one. This
time, more than 500 families lost their homes, livelihood, and properties, aside from loved
ones.
To date, 234 people have been confirmed dead due to the disaster, while 85 persons remain
missing and are still believed to be under the dump. Recovery operations have stopped since
July 22. Around 63 bodies recovered since then are presently kept at the Empire View Park and
have yet to be released by the forensic team and the QC government to their respective
families.
There are four phases in Lupang Pangako -- Phase I to Phase IV, and only Phase II was affected
by the garbage-slide. Phase II on the other hand is divided into 21 areas that are locally-called
purok. Of the 21 purok, only 7 were hit by the garbage-slide. These are puroks 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
and 17.
A few days after the disaster, several families in other Phases and in other areas around the
dumpsite, particularly in the Group III area, were evacuated as they were believed to be in a
danger zone. Officials feared another garbage-slide due to continuous heavy rains.

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Payatas: The Story of a Tragedy

Evacuation and Relocation

At the height of the tragedy, more than 500 families or 2000 persons were evacuated at the
nearby Lupang Pangako Elementary School (LPES). What used to be a classroom for 40
students instantly became a room housing 40-60 families.
When more families had to be evacuated due to the spectre of another garbage-slide, several
families were housed at the Ina ng Lupang Pangako Chapel, at the cockpit in Phase IV, and in
an abandoned school in Group III. Those at the LPES swelled to several hundreds.
The cramped condition in the evacuation center resulted in the proliferation of respiratoryrelated diseases, such as colds and cough, especially among children. A 4-year old child (Jullie
Ann Tolentino) even died at the evacuation center in Group III last July 23 due to a complication
of her bronchopneumonia.
The evacuees also complained with relief provisions given them. They said that for days they
had nothing to eat but rice, noodles and sardines. While they are thankful to the support given
them, they said that government officials running the evacuation center should have been
considerate enough to give them a decent meal.
For weeks, classes was also suspended at the LPES. The decongestion of the LPES evacuation
center as well as the other centers began July 19 when the first batch of 19 families were
relocated to Erap City or Kasiglahan Village I in Rodriguez, Rizal.
Around August, all evacuees were removed from Lupang Pangako and were then transferred to
Group III and in the basketball court in Molave. Though to this date, there are no longer any
evacuees in the Molave basketball court and only a few families remain in Group III. Most have
been relocated to Erap City/Kasiglahan in Rizal.
Around 400 families have already been transferred to Kasiglahan, which if translated means
Bliss. Ironically the place is no heaven for the victims. The housing units given to them
remain unfinished and poorly built, lack basic utilities and services such as electricity and
water, extremely infested with mosquitoes, and lie directly on an active earthquake faultline.
There is no clean and safe drinking water, school, clinic, marketplace, and church. The victims
are unlikely to find a sustainable job or livelihood inside the relocation. Worse, the victims
would have to pay for the housing units, or else they face eviction after failing to pay
amortization for three consecutive months.
Who's to Blame
Clearly, local government officials of Quezon City, particularly Mayor Mel Mathay and Barangay
Payatas Chair Emerita Pecson, MMDA Chair Jejomar Binay, and Presidential Adviser Robert
Aventajado who heads the Greater Metropolitan Manila Solid Waste Management Committee,
are very much accountable for the tragedy.
They have obviously been neglectful of their responsibilities in the efficient management of the
metro's garbage problem and in instituting the President's order to close the Payatas dumpsite.
Such conduct has obviously been prejudicial to the best interest of public service, and in fact
has resulted in the death of hundreds of innocent men, women, and children.
Worse, these officials, significantly Mayor Mathay, tried to pass the buck on the urban poor
residents citing them as responsible for their own tragic fate. They called the residents hardheaded for refusing to leave Lupang Pangako despite the danger posed by the 50-foot
mountain of garbage.
But when this lie was exposed, when it was revealed that the residents came before the huge
dumpsite and that it was the dumpsite itself which closed in on the Lupang Pangako
community, these same officials tried to pass the blame on the unsuspecting public. In chorus
with "environmentalists", everybody was blamed for the tragedy because everybody produced
so much garbage and disposed of them irresponsibly.

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Payatas: The Story of a Tragedy

But when this outrageous claim also did not work, they then began to pass the blame on one
another.
Blaming the Estrada Government
While the tragedy which struck Lupang Pangako, Payatas displayed the incompetence and
irresponsibility of certain government officials, this same tragedy also revealed the tip of
enduring poverty, injustice, and degradation suffered by many of our people. It revealed the
extreme callousness, inutility and criminal neglect of the present Estrada government to the
plight of more than 20 million urban poor throughout the country.
While millions are wasted daily on pork barrel, graft and corruption, the payment of foreign
debt, and the all-out war in Mindanao and other parts of the country, the government has done
practically nothing to alleviate the people's wretched conditions.
The Estrada government pretends to be pro-poor but what it has done for the people is make
them suffer even more with oil price increases, increases in taxes, low wages, massive
unemployment, labor contractualization, and intensified political repression.
The present government is a government serving foreign multinational interests and the
interests of big local landlords and compradors like Tan, Cojuangco, Sy, and Marcos. Under the
Estrada government, a system is perpetrated where only the rich become richer and the poor
become poorer, if they don't die at all.
Clearly, the victims of the Payatas tragedy could not expect justice under this government and
under this unjust system. They would have to organize themselves and militantly fight for
justice and their rights. They would also need to link up with the poor millions who also suffer
the same degradation in our land. Only then would justice be rendered not only to them, but to
the rest of our people wheeling under widespread grinding poverty.
Struggle for Justice
The hundreds of victims of the Payatas tragedy are now organized under the July 10 Payatas
Victims Organization (J10PVO). The J10PVO, also called by its members as Damayan, also
includes as members victims of the first garbage-slide which happened August last year.
Presently there are more than 200 members of the J10PVO. Its members include the survivors
of the tragedy, those who have lost their loved ones, and those who have lost their houses and
other properties.
The J10PVO was organized with the help of the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY),
a national alliance of urban poor associations. As such, it is also a member-organization of
KADAMAY. Attorney Romeo Capulong of the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) stands as its legal
counsel.
The J10PVO has programs for medical and dental services, therapy for adults and children,
education, legal services, cultural work, and activities for youth and women.
The J10PVO aims primarily to seek justice for all victims of the Payatas tragedy, This includes
the attainment of the immediate needs for relief and rehabilitation of the victims and their
long-term struggle for the attainment of their right to decent housing, livelihood, and social
services.
Specific demands of the J10PVO include the following: (1) resumption and completion of
recovery operations for the more than 80 persons still under the mountain of garbage; (2)
immediate release of recovered and identified bodies to their respective families; (3) free
hospitalization and burial to all victims; (4) free housing within other areas of Payatas; (5)
rehabilitation and social services to all victims including medical services, psycho-social
therapy, free education, etc.; (6) sufficient livelihood to all victims; (7) bring all officials and
individuals criminally and admistratively liable for the tragedy to the bar of justice; (8)

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Payatas: The Story of a Tragedy

indemnify all victims; and, (9) stop the demolition of the Payatas community, immediately
close and remove the Payatas dumpsite, restore the Payatas community.
So far, through the J10PVO, and with te assistance of KADAMAY and PILC, the victims have filed
a class suit against local officials involved in the tragedy at the Quezon City Regional Trial
Court. The said case was filed last August 1 and the judge to which the case was filed waived
docket fees worth P10 million.
The victims also filed a criminal and administrative case against the same officials with the
Office of the Ombudsman last August 22.
It is unfortunate that there are some "pro-urban poor" groups trying to make money out of the
worsened plight of the Payatas victims. These small groups are being utilized by government
officials to sow intrigue among the victims, the objective of which is to divide the ranks of the
J10PVO and weaken their fight for justice.
Epilogue
The story that was the Payatas tragedy has not ended yet. While we want the grieving to end
so that those affected could again rebuild their lives, we do not want this singular event to be
simply effaced from memory. There is a constant need to recollect this sad story if only to draw
the lessons necessary for preventing a repeat of the tragedy.
And such would not be so hard to do given the fact that everyday the larger tragedy of
widespread poverty continue to bury a growing number of the urban poor under a trash of
social, political, and economic issues and problems disposed of by the present government.
What is important now is that the victims and the rest of the poor are rising from the tragedy
and are pursuing the promise of Lupang Pangako through organized and militant struggle.
Justice shall be rendered unto them. Only then shall the pain brought by the tragedy end. Only
then shall the story of the Payatas tragedy come to an end.

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