Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Right to Shelter
Families displaced by the siege in 2013 are still claiming for their right to permanent
shelters. Corollary thereto, they are asking for proper provisions of water and electricity. These
concerns have been continuously raised in inter-agency meetings including other protection issues
encountered by these families. The regional office through the IDP team and the IDP monitor is
continuously monitoring this situation. These are discussed below under the discussion on the
thematic concerns particularly of the internally displaced persons.
2
Urban Poor
Urban poor are individuals or families in urban areas with income below the poverty line as
defined by the National Statistical Coordinating Board. They are underprivileged or homeless
sector who are integral part of the society and are partners in urbanization.
Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor serves as the direct link of the urban poor to
the government in policy formulation and program implementation addressed to their needs to
include accreditation of urban poor organization, social preparation, capability building, monitoring
of demolition and eviction, and consultation.
In Zamboanga City, PCUP works hand in hand with the local and national agencies and
other stakeholders in monitoring the activities of the urban poor particularly the City Housing and
Homesite Office. Zamboanga City has two (2) resettlement area for those qualified informal settlers
situated in Barangay Mercedes and Barangay Tulungatung. The City Mayor, Honorable Maria
Isabelle Climaco-Salazar has assured this city’s growing urban poor sector that the local
government under her administration will continue to work towards meeting the gap in the need for
low cost housing projects.
Right to Health
Previous information indicated that there is an increase in the number of teenage
pregnancies and children afflicted with HIV calling for its continuous monitoring including the
implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law through the assisted
efforts of the Zamboanga City AIDS Council and other NGOs (ASP Global Fund, MARIPOSA and
MUJER LGBT) with the supervision of the Office of the City Health. The same issues, to wit, lack of
manpower for the implementation of programs and activities, lack of peer educators, trained
counsellors and case managers are still the existing problem. At present, the HIV treatment hub in
Zamboanga City is catering patients within the Zamboanga peninsula, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan and
Sulu. The Covid 19 pandemic did not stop the increase in the number of teenage pregnancies. The
first quarter report indicated that there were 470 girls who gave birth and 525 still pregnant at such
time. The City Health Office through the Commission on Population and Development also
reported 9 pregnancies for girls aged 10-14, 516 for girls aged 15-19, 30 deliveries for girls aged
10-14 and 440 deliveries for girls aged 15-19. This pandemic has added stress to our health
workers and front liners who were already burdened with other previous health cases.
Information from the Office of the City Health also showed that as of July 11, 2020, there
were 21 confirmed cases of Covid 19 in Zamboanga del Norte, 26 in Zamboanga del Sur, 6 in
2