Informal settlers displaced by floods to be relocated this week—Binay

Evacuees stay inside a school that was converted into a temporary evacuation center in Rizal province, east of Manila, Philippines on Aug. 12, 2012. Vice President Jejomar Binay on Tuesday, August 14, 2012, announced that informal settler families who were affected by the flooding caused by the southwest monsoon rains could be relocated to available resettlement areas within the week. AP PHOTO/AARON FAVILA

MANILA, Philippines –Vice President Jejomar Binay on Tuesday announced that informal settler families who were affected by the flooding caused by the southwest monsoon rains could be relocated to available resettlement areas within the week pending the construction of medium-rise buildings, or MRBs and permanent new settlements.

In a statement, Binay said the breakdown of the distribution of the 5,363 affected families identified by the National Housing Authority (NHA) are as follows: 150 families in Litex in Quezon City; 2,400 in Manggahan, Pasig; 1,500 in Navotas; 970 in Manila (Happyland, Tondo, Nagtahan, and Isla Puting Bato); 200 in Malabon; 75 in San Juan; and 68 in Mandaluyong.

The statement noted, however, that the NHA has yet to conduct a headcount of affected informal settlers in Marikina.

Last week, torrential rains brought about by the southwest monsoon caused massive flooding and triggered evacuations of thousands of residents in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

The statement said that the affected families would be relocated in resettlement units in Towerville Phase 6 at Barangay (village) Gaya-Gaya in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan; Tanay; Bocaue; Southville 8B Phases 3 and 4 in Montalban, Rizal; and Southville 9 in Baras, Rizal.

Binay said the housing sector was pushing for the transfer of informal settlers living in danger areas to MRBs in safer sites within Metro Manila as well as in new town settlements.

“While the MRBs are still to be constructed, the most viable option for relocating these families would be to use the available resettlement sites on a temporary basis,” Binay said.—Fat Reyes