Compostela Valley execs turn to GK
By Frinston Lim, Orlando Dinoy
Mindanao Bureau
First Posted 03:48:00 11/20/2008
Filed Under: Regional authorities
NABUNTURAN, Compostela Valley – Officials of this province has turned to a Catholic group in a bid to help the more than 400 families affected by the killer landslides that hit Barangay Masara in Maco town in September.
The government eventually decided to permanently shut down Masara, a mining village, after the landslides that killed 26 people.
Compostela Valley Gov. Arturo Uy said they started negotiating with Gawad Kalinga (GK) for a housing program that would help displaced residents rebuild their lives in another village.
Uy said that a pledging activity, where the provincial government, the GK and other groups and individuals who wish to help in the program, would be held on Dec. 3.
The landslide victims are staying in bunkhouses built on a two-hectare property owned by the Tagum diocese in Sitio Uswag in Barangay Elizalde, also in Maco.
“But with assistance from the GK, the provincial government and the municipal government of Maco, they are set to relocate permanently in a four-hectare land bought by the provincial government in Barangay Kinuban,” Uy said.
He said if the GK-LGU partnership for the Kinuban project worked out, it would serve as a showcase for plans to relocate residents in other high-risk areas.
“With the program in place, we wouldn’t anymore wait for funds from the national government,” he said.
Aside from giving homes to those forced out by disasters, Uy said the housing program would also expand into helping those considered “poorest of the poor.”
He said the GK has agreed to do the profiling of prospective recipients as “they have the true picture of who will benefit.”
A provincial core group headed by Uy and composed of provincial, as well as GK officials, was formed recently to oversee the program.
“Masara as a community will be dissolved since the place is no longer suited for habitation owing to the risks,” Uy said.
Although a handful of residents have remained, Uy said new settlement in the village would be strictly prohibited.
In Matanao, Davao del Sur, at least 80 families affected by flashfloods in Barangay Manga on Saturday night asked the provincial government for a relocation area.
The residents said a similar incident also hit their areas in 1980 and that it could be repeated, endangering more lives and properties.
Davao del Sur Gov. Douglas Cagas said he has told Mayor Butch Fernandez to help find a suitable relocation site for the affected residents.
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