‘Use condos for city’s poor’

The  Cebu City condominium should be used to  house the urban poor.

Lawyer Collin Rosell, head of the Division  for the Welfare of the Urban Poor said he wants to discuss with Mayor Michael Rama the use of the city condominium in the old Lorega San Miguel cemetery.

“If possible, we should use it to address our  housing concerns,” he told Cebu Daily News.

Rosell said the city government is pursuing  condominium type urban poor housing because of inadequate  space in urban barangays.

He said while lots in the urban barangays are expensive, urban poor families  prefer to stay there, closer to work and school.

Rosell said the city government is spending the P78 million balance of a P100 million loan with the National Housing Authority (NHA) for a condominium in Lorega.

Rosell said the amount is  enough to build  three to four five-story condominium buildings.

The project stands beside  Gawad Kalinga’s three-story condominium that is being built.

Rosell said he is only waiting for NHA personnel to conduct a site inspection before the condominium project starts.

He said there is also a P12-million fund from the regional ressettlement program which he will spend for site development of the 1.9 hectare Kapasar II in barangay Budlaan.

“If the grant is availed before the year ends, this would already be made part of the city’s revolving funds for its urban poor projects,” he said.

Rosell said if  the site development is completed, the Kapasar II lot may be assigned to qualified urban poor residents  who have not yet availed of  housing from the city.

The nearby Kapasar I lot is now occupied by families who were displaced by the South Coastal Road tunnel construction.

Rosell said he also wants the use of the city condominium along N. Bacalso Avenue reexamined.

The five-storey condominium was built in 2004 using a P24-million loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines.

Another P4.6 million was spent in 2007 to repair the building to house extra security forces brought to Cebu for the Asean summit.

The N. Bacalso condominium is now occupied by students from the city’s mountain barangays.

The City Council approved last Feb. 18, 2009, City Ordinance  2174 which converts the city condominium into a boarding house for college and university students residing in the city’s mountain barangays. / Correspondent Edison A. Delos Angeles with a story from Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac