The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has batted for the immediate passage of Senate Bill No. 1525 on "Rental Payment and Eviction Moratorium during Disasters and Emergencies Act” that would provide better protection for tenants during calamities.
It said the passage of the bill into a law would strengthen the government’s efforts against the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) since housing has become the frontline defense against the spread of the virus.
Unfortunately, it said, the worsening economic situation in the country has rendered many Filipinos unable to pay their rent and many have been threatened with evictions and many more are now rendered homeless.
CHR Spokesperson Jacqueline Ann de Guia, a lawyer, said that forced evictions in the time of a pandemic, or in any disaster or emergency, is a direct violation of international human rights law and a deprivation of the people’s right to adequate housing.
De Guia said that while there already is an existing temporary prohibition on rental payments under the Bayanihan I and II Acts, Senate Bill No. 1525 would step up the protection of tenants since it would impose a permanent policy on moratorium on residential payments and eviction while there is a state of calamity or emergency.
“Apart from this welcomed policy, the Commission calls for a more sustainable and permanent action to address the housing issue in the country,” she said.
“The current health crisis highlights the existing gaps in the State’s protection of the right to housing as evident in the rising homelessness and informal settlements in both urban and rural areas, and in the growing impoverished population in the Philippines,” she pointed out.
She warned that evictions of tenants during calamities, like COVID-19, “will further endanger the health of informal settler families who may not be able to find shelters for themselves.”
“The Commission urges the government to take extraordinary measures to secure the right to housing for all and to protect every Filipino against the pandemic—especially the most vulnerable, marginalized, and disadvantaged,” she stressed.