Muslim families ask City Hall to defer eviction

Muslim occupants of a residential structure fearing dislocation in barangay Ermita are appealing for the delay of the implementation of a school building project.

The 67 families renting the Mandatan Building will have to vacate the area to give way to the planned construction of a public elementary school there.

The city is buying the private lot where the Mandatan Building stands add to the nearby city government owned lot where the school building will be constructed.

The Barangay Council of Ermita issued a notice asking the families to vacate the building last February on or before April 15, 2013.

Councilor Alvin Dizon, the council’s housing committee chairperson, said City Hall should not rush the eviction of the Muslim occupants as the city government still has to sign a contract with the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI) which will construct the school building.

“The problem is that the families are already asked to go and yet the MOA between the city government and RAFI has not yet been signed. Why the rush?” Dizon said.

Mayor Michael Rama said that Dizon is merely politicizing the issue.

“That (the construction project) has been discussed at the barangay level. That is a community decision,” Rama said.

But he added: “The important thing is that we should not forget the welfare of the Muslim occupants.