LGUs' Role in Creating Child-Friendly Urban Cities - Department of ...

The MMDA says more than half a million families live in informal settlements. /
If you use ADB data, that number goes up to almost three-fourths of a million. /
Around 41% of that figure lives in informal settlements on government lands,
34% on private lands, 21% in dangerous areas.
IPC figures show there are around two million children who are systematically
deprived of their rights in Metro Manila. / We see many of them on the streets
every day. / They lack access to health services, good toilets, quality education,
and a chance to live a normal childhood. / It’s pointless to discuss with them
whether they have “go, grow, and glow” in their diets. / Proper nutrition is not
pertinent in their daily conversations, / but hunger is / because their one big
question is how to eat three times a day.
Local governments can do many things to change these deplorable conditions, /
especially when it comes to children / who live with constant threats of
demolition and distant relocation. / The DILG recognizes the need for LGUs to
providing shelter that are not only affordable, / but also create communities
where the young can flourish and not be scared of constant demolition.
This will require a holistic approach for resettlement / that will not pluck families
away from their sources of income. / The DILG is advocating for densified onsite
redevelopment or in-city relocation, / which has legal basis in the Constitution, in
the Local Government Code, and in the Urban Development and Housing Act. /
The President has already approved our proposal for prioritization of onsite or in-
city redevelopment. / We are taking a multi-stakeholder track that recognizes the
role of non-government, community-based, and sectoral organizations’
participation / in solving the problem of informal settlers in cities. /
DILG is also looking into structures that protect the rights of children. / The
Local Council for the Protection of Children (LCPC) is crucial in pushing the