Nearly 1,000 members of the urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap or Kadamay began a campout at a housing site for the military and police personnel in Bacolod Thursday morning, the group said in its Facebook post.
The homeless families, along with their children and belongings, asked the government to give them the unoccupied houses in Barangay Felisa, saying they would not leave the site project until the authorities gave in to their demand.
The group said the 1,500 housing units were unoccupied since 2013, adding they had been asking the National Housing Authority to award them the houses.
The housing site was supposedly made for the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.
Kadamay Negros secretary general Berlita Ante argued that long-unoccupied housing units should be awarded to the homeless.
Ante said the homeless people would not enter the houses until there had been a dialogue between them and the authorities.
She said they would not leave the area to make sure the dialogue push through.
Meanwhile, Bacolod NHA project manager Alejandro Ongsuco said they were looking into the request of Kadamay. Nat Mariano
This July, the Bacolod City Council filed a resolution endorsing the distribution of the houses to the group.
Earlier on, Kadamay occupied houses for police and military personnel in Rodriguez, Rizal and Pandi, Bulacan.