Ermita fire victims renew call for immediate site reblocking
LIKE every student, 12-year-old Alex Ando wakes up early to prepare for school.
Unlike other students—or like most students in rural Cebu–Ando cannot avoid soiling his polished shoes with the mud found in the coastline area in sitio Bato, barangay Ermita that was reclaimed following a fire that hit the area last Apr. 20.
Alex and his six other siblings in sitio Bato who study at the Cebu City Central School face more problems with the onset of the rainy season which rendered the reclaimed area muddy.
The residents’ makeshift houses made of canvass cannot prevent rainwater from drenching their belongings.
Kids and families are complaining of mosquitoes and fearful of stagnant water which can attract flies that carry the dengue virus.
Alex’s 32-year-old mother Donna Marie Ando told Cebu Daily News that she hopes the city government could expedite the re-blocking of the fire site so they can rebuild their homes.
“Ganahan na kaayo mi magtukod ug balik sa among balay kay pait kaayo among kahimtang run. Samot na kay ting-uwan na pud (We want to rebuild our homes because our situation is quite painful especially when it rains),” she told CDN.
For now, solar powered emergency flashlights are the residents’ only source of light during nighttime.
Ando said the flashlight’s battery life is shorter now with more rains and lesser sunlight.
Re-blocking in some areas are already done. City administrator Jose Marie Poblete said they plan to meet with the residents, home owners associations and the barangay officials to discuss accommodating the residents in the re-blocked area.
“We have instructed them to conduct briefings with the residents to ask them to rebuild their houses properly and orderly,” Poblete told CDN.
Alvin Santillana, operations chief of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office said they will also meet with the residents this week to ask their commitment to an orderly reentry.
Residents should also promise not to encroach in the widened roads and avoid setting up illegal power and water connections. They will also be required to sign documents on the the re-blocking plan.
“We need to have documents so we can show something and avoid people complaining,” Poblete said.
Santillana said they still have to complete the reclamation and continue compacting the area to ensure a good foundation for the residents to rebuild.
Both Poblete and Santillana said completion of the re-blocking in all areas will be done within this month.
Poblete said the city will provide construction materials for the families, after the documents are signed.
“I think that’s already a good start for them. We apologize to the people for the delay because there were those who opposed to the re-blocking,” Poblete said. Correspondent Jose Santino Bunachita
