Mayor holds off housing materials in fire sites

CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama ordered social workers to stop distributing housing materials to fire victims until new roads are opened in burned areas in barangay Tejero and Punta Princesa.

Rama said he saw the need to reblock the areas as a safety measure for access.

“Even during the campaign period, we could barely enter the interior part of these sitios where there are no roads. We need to reblock the area for accessibility,” Rama said in a radio dyAB interview.

He said he has to put on hold the giving of construction materials “so as not to entice the fire victims to come back to their areas without the reblocking works done.”

Barangay Tejero officials called on the city government to speed up the reblocking so the fire victims could return to their homes and get on with their lives.

“We are still waiting for the housing supplies from the city since it was also put on hold . Hopefully they can be delivered soon,” said Tejero councilor Garry Lao.

Most of the burned properties in Tejero are owned by the Cebu City government.

Afffected lots in Punta Princesa are owned by private individuals.

Yesterday, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia turned over P400,000 worth of relief aid to Punta Princesa fire victims.

Garcia turned over 200 sacks of NFA rice, 50 boxes of meat loaf, 50 boxes of canned sardines, and 20 boxes of instant noodles. to barangay captain Jose Navarro at the Punta Princesa gymnasium where the fire victims are temporarily staying.

As of yesterday, authorities said there were 302 families or 1,399 individuals who were affected by the fire.

Rep. Tomas Osmeña (Cebu City south district) said he would give P10,000 assistance to each fire victim who owned a house and P1,000 each for displaced boarders or renters of of the Mambaling and Punta Princesa fires.

He said he had to give a bigger amount than those from the Tejero fires because Mambaling and Punta Princesa were under his district.

“Rice will still be there but the only reason why I am reluctant to give the rice is because there is nowhere to put them,” Osmeña added.  Correspondents Carmel Loise Matus and Edison A. Delos Angeles