Luz families to get P10T each if…

About three homeowners associations will offer P10,000 in cash assistance to each of the 32 families whose homes face a court-ordered demolition in barangay Luz, Cebu City on Oct. 8.

Councilor Nida Cabrera said the aid will go to the settlers if they voluntarily dismantle their homes on or before Oct. 8.

“If they don’t dismantle, we won’t give,” Cabrera said.

The councilor, who chairs the council’s housing committee, said it would cost the homeowners associations additional expenses if they pay for the clearing.

The offer is separate from cash assistance the Cebu City Council promised to give to the 32 families whose case remains on appeal at the Regional Trial Court branch 11.

Despite the offer, Collin Rosell, Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor chief, complained about the council’s refusal to allocate funds to buy the province-owned lots occupied by the 32 families.

“They are urban poor so to speak. Their plight should be taken into consideration by reviewing and checking before concluding. We cannot take just one side especially on housing,” Rosell said.

The leaders of the three homeowners’ association including the barangay officials said they are only following a Supreme Court ruling that allowed the demolition of the houses of the 32.

“We will help identify the demolition team and aid the settlers in dismantling their houses,”said June Fernandez, vice president of Sitio Nangka HOA.

Barangay Luz councilor Lito Lipatan said they will provide three dump trucks to transport the settlers and their belongings.

“We hope the families won’t barricade their area,” said Diosdada Martinez, a homeowners association president.

Generosa Corbeta, president of the Barangay Luz Urban Poor Fraternal Organization (BLUPFO) that’s comprised of the 32 families, said they are “ready and willing to leave the place peacefully.”

“If the demolition happens, it’s God’s will,” Corbeta said after hearing about the council’s refusal to purchase the province-owned lots they occupy.

Last Sept. 26, the Cebu City Council approved a resolution asking Mayor Michael Rama to provide financial aid to the 32 families for their relocation.

Rosell said the city government will have to find another relocation site for the families since thee lots in the mountain barangay of Budlaan are affected by transmission lines of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

He said barangay Luz is already a relocation site where “the homeowners already have a system in place.”

BLUPFO said they were beneficiaries of the relocation program of the late president Ramon Magsaysay in 1957.