‘Ondoy’ victims closer to owning lots

MANILA, Philippines — The subdivision plan for a 3-hectare lot in Barangay Tumana, Marikina City, will be up for the city council’s approval tomorrow, potentially paving the way for residents to move out of the flood-prone area 10 years after being devastated by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international name: Ketsana).

In a statement, Marikina Land Management and Community Relations Division chief Nena Tiglao said that she would submit the plan and other necessary documents to councilors on Tuesday to fast-track distribution of the land to around 1,000 beneficiaries.

After approval from the council, seen at this point as a formality, Tiglao said her office could begin creating the contract of sale for residents.

The Marikina City government announced on Sept. 15 that it had finally secured the lot after a 27-year legal battle with a private corporation.

The distribution of the land would allow residents of the dense Barangay Tumana—an area bisected by the Marikina River—to begin moving out of danger zones where they had been forced to remain amid the constant threat of calamity.

Priority project

Mayor Marcelino Teodoro earlier said it was a priority to transfer these residents “to safer grounds in the city where they [could] live with dignity and with no fear of demolition.”

The city government purchased the lot directly from the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp., the liquidator of the shuttered Admiral United Savings Bank, for P27 million. The bank had seized the property from the private corporation after it failed to pay off its debt.

“We will be subdividing and awarding it to individual families who are already occupying the said area,” said Teodoro, who added that each square meter of land could be purchased by beneficiaries for P799.

If divided evenly, this would give all 1,000 beneficiaries around 33 square meters each.

Tumana, with its population of more than 40,000, was one of the villages hit hardest by Ondoy nearly a decade ago, on Sept. 26, 2009.

More than 1,500 informal settler families have been awarded land titles under Marikina’s land distribution program, which the local government has touted as a model for other cities in Metro Manila facing the same problem.