Settlers’ children fall ill, still refuse transfer to NRA site
With no toilets and a permanent source of clean water, about 50 residents of sitio San Isidro II who continue to live in shanties near the Mahiga Creek suffered from diarrhea, fever, coughs and skin rashes.
A temporary relocation site was prepared for them at block 27 of the North Reclamation Area (NRA), but the settlers won’t transfer.
They wanted more than tents. The settlers want a proper lighting system and permanent toilets instead of portable ones in the area.
“We would rather stay here so we can guard our belongings,” said Maritez Ariasgedo, one of the affected residents whose one-year-old son is suffering from coughs and skin rashes on his neck and back.
The Squatters Prevention Encroachment and Elimination Division (SPEED) demolished her home along with the others nearly a month ago.
Instead of transferring, they built makeshift shelters just across the area where their houses once stood.
The five-month-old son of Elizabeth Mohican suffers from diarrhea. Mohican said they were buying water from a neighbor since they could no longer use their faucet.
She has to make do with boiling her water in her charcoal stove.
She admitted that they dispose of their waste in the back of their shanties since their toilets were demolished.
Another settler, Lovely Puligatez, said her two-month old baby gets soaked whenever it rains since their roof was full of holes.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he will send city health officials to check on the settlers.
A Cebu City mobile clinic was set up near the area but there were no doctors and nurses there.
Residents said the clinic was turned into a stockyard where demolition equipment were placed.
The city government is planning to develop a relocation site in sitio St. Michael, barangay Talamban, that would cost P3 million.
It started clearing operations at the Mahiga creek in anticipation of the rainy season.
Last Friday, a portion of the riprap in the area collapsed due to a heavy downpour. Correspondent Fatrick Tabada
