AS EXPECTED, accusations of human rights violations have taken on more fervor these days. It's indeed the political season; the season when just about everyone who has an eye on power becomes righteous all of a sudden.

What's glossed over, however, is the wider human rights violations that are perpetrated everywhere: our slums.

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The slums host hundreds of thousands of families. These can be found in just about any urbanizing town and grow in number and density in highly-urbanized cities. These communities are characterized by overcrowding, inadequate housing, inadequate services, high levels of crime incidents, violence, inadequate sanitation and drainage, and simply unsafe states. Women and girls are at an even disadvantaged position because the unsafe states of their communities expose them to higher risks of sexual exploitation, harassment, and domestic violence.

Children are denied their basic right to survival and development as their family's dire straits force them to just sniff solvent, scavenge for some coins, or look for other sources of food and solace.

These communities continue to grow as governments evict villages upon villages for large corporate investments in mining and plantations in the countryside, while ignoring the starving small farmers. Others are brought in by conflict in their hometowns. The numbers are multiplied further by natural disasters like landslides and flashfloods. Thus, people migrate to cities where they cannot even afford a decent shelter.

In these "indecent" shelters, these people live, work, and raise families, and play with death -- death by yet another drinking spree gone sour, intrigues sown by the rumor-monger, communicable diseases because of unsanitary conditions, lack of food, and misplaced libido.

Around them politicos -- national, local, and wannabes -- bicker over death squads every political season, but never daring to look into what is out there every day, staring at them in the face.

Although, we're one notch better here because our city government does not go into forced eviction without relocation and there's Lingap para sa Mahirap should they fall sick; in both cases, the beneficiaries are not required to hand over their political loyalty in exchange. In comparison, Malacañang's pristine walls stand in stark contrast against the pitiful plight of shanties along Pasig River right outside the palace windows.

Obviously, government, especially national government, has failed to address these issues, which subject hundreds of thousands to violations of their basic rights. But then, slums are common sights and admitting that these are breeding grounds for human rights violations is tantamount to admitting that government is the greatest violator of all. The politicos would not have anything to do with that. And so they do the thing they are best at: ignore and make a lot of fuss on issues where someone else is to be blamed.