Advocacies/Campaigns
Most common struggles of NUPCO members are on housing/land tenure, demolition, and on clearing operations due to development/infrastructure projects such as flood control, road widening, and beautification program. Provision of social services, especially water, is one of the major local struggles of some members of NUPCO.
NUPCO is an active advocate of the advancement of urban poor rights including the passage of Magna Carta for Urban Poor. The coalition, together with IPD, also pursues initiatives toward the empowerment of women as well as greater involvement of the youth in the communities.
The advocacies/ campaigns of NUPCO members can be categorized into four: 1) land tenure/housing, 2) development aggression, 3) contending laws, and 4) political/other advocacies.
Organizational Structure
Formed in 2006, NUPCO now has seven member urban poor organizations/formations with majority of membership coming from Metro Manila, while the rest are from other cities/provinces in Luzon, Visayas, and in Mindanao. These are Bangsa, Kalipunan ng Samahang Maralita sa Pilipinas (Kasama Pilipinas), Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralitang Lungsod (KPML), League of Urban Poor for Action (LUPA), Lakas Ugnayan ng Maralita Laban sa Kahirapan (LUMABAN KA), Pambansang Katipunan ng Maralitang Pilipino (PKMP), and Umalab Ka.
There are two levels in the organizational set-up of NUPCO – national and sub-area levels. At the national level, the National Council composed of one representative from each bloc/organization defines or sets the direction of the coalition.
At the local level, there are five sub-areas composed of local leaders of organizations present in the area. The sub-areas – Manila, Quezon City, Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas-Valenzuela (CaMaNaVa), South (focus on Taguig), and East (focus on Marikina) – are determined based on the presence of NUPCO members in these areas. A coordinator is assigned in each sub-area.
Decisions are made through consensus reached either at the national or local level. A consensus to form committees to further enhance the coalition’s capability to implement programs/ blueprints was already reached this year.
NUPCO reaches out to independent urban poor organizations especially those located in areas where the coalition has active engagements for security of land/housing tenure.
About
The National Urban Poor Coalition (NUPCO) is a confederation of various urban poor organizations based in Metro Manila, but with membership base also in other parts of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Seventy percent of its leadership are women and it has a total membership base of 40,000 families in Metro Manila.
Through the efforts of the different socio-political groups in Laban ng Masa (Struggle of the Masses) and in partnership with the Institute for Popular Democracy (IPD), NUPCO has been working to achieve consensus on its new strategy of mobilizing the powers of local governments to secure urban poor rights that could not be secured from national agencies, like the National Housing Authority.
Currently, it has a joint program with IPD “Securing a Dignified Place in the City for the Urban Poor.” The key objective of the program is to support urban poor organizations as they initiate a major shift of strategy by focusing their mobilization and lobbying strategies towards pressure on their local governments, while also exerting pressure on the national government to adopt compatible rules supportive of local initiatives. They would like their local governments to use their powers and resources to help create secure in-city urban spaces that will be co-managed, co-financed and co-developed by urban poor communities and into which needed municipal services could then flow.
Consensus building activities, have been undertaken leading to NUPCO’s unity on the following propositions:
i) The struggle for a secure and dignified place in the cities cannot be won only through existing national venues and has to be brought before local governments, whose powers under the Local Governance Code can be harnessed;
ii) Urban poor communities also need to take pro-active initiatives, not just the dramatic defensive actions that have done little to stop evictions of the urban poor in resettlement areas far from where they have their livelihoods;
iii) The urban poor have to propose alternatives and well elaborated frames for policy and action that will be presented to local governments and local politicians;
iv) The urban poor need to unite on their advocacy platform at the level of the cities and barangays – instead of being divided by local partisan loyalties – so that their numerical strength can be realized in the form of pressure on local politicians who need to secure votes every three years.
Contact Us
28 Mapagkawanggawa cor Magiting Sts.
Teachers Village, Diliman
Quezon City 1101
Philippines
tel. (63-2) 9280082
nupco.philippines@yahoo.com
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