Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippine–President Aquino has ordered Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II to immediately buckle down to work and relocate thousands of estero-dwellers in Metro Manila.
The President issued Memorandum Order No. 57 directing the Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government to “immediately spearhead” the transfer of illegal settlers living precariously near estuaries, creeks and rivers in the flood-prone metropolis.
The DILG Secretary “is hereby directed to immediately spearhead the transfer of informal settler families living in danger and high risk areas to decent housing sites … and pave the way for the clearing of clogged waterways,” the President said in the Aug. 2 memorandum order.
Just as presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda announced the issuance of the memorandum order, Roxas kicked off on Monday morning the relocation of 606 families from the San Juan River in San Juan City to new homes in San Jose Del Monte City in Bulacan.
They were the initial batch of the 19,440 families that the government was targeting to move 13 million people from eight major waterways criss-crossing Metro Manila by yearend.
To carry out the President’s directive, Roxas has to coordinate with local officials, the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor, National Housing Authority and other government agencies, Lacierda said, citing the memorandum order.
“This will be a continuing mission for Secretary Mar Roxas to ensure that all those people living in the danger zones be relocated to decent housing,” Lacierda said when asked if the target of relocating 20,000 families by year-end was feasible. He said he would have to ask Roxas about this.
But Lacierda explained that the President issued the memorandum order to ensure that the relocation was coordinated under one lead agency, the DILG, headed by Roxas.
Public works officials have identified eight major waterways such as the San Juan River, Tullahan River, Pasig River, Maricaban Creek, Manggahan Floodway, Estero Tripa de Gallina, Estero de Maypajo and Estero de Sunog Apog as critical areas needing widening.
Rainwater from Sierra Madre normally flows through these waterways before emptying into Manila Bay. Since the waterways are clogged, the rainwater overflows into roads, leading to flooding.
Some 104,000 families are living in danger zones such as canals, rivers, creeks, railroad tracks and dumps, and 60,000 of them have built their homes near waterways.
The President has allotted P10 billion a year for the relocation of the estero-dwellers. And this is on top of the P350-billion flood control project that public works officials would implement in the metropolis and nearby provinces.
While there had been reports of resistance to demolitions in the slums, Lacierda said there had been no opposition from estero-dwellers to the gradual relocation.
And it helped that the estero-dwellers were bused to the relocation sites so they can personally check their new homes, as in the case of the residents along San Juan River, Lacierda said.
“When you speak of the danger zones, we have not received much opposition on those living in estero families because, obviously, there really is no comparison between living in an estero or living on a waterway compared to decent housing,” he said.
Lacierda explained that the relocation of 100,000 families of illegal settlers would be done in phases until Mr. Aquino steps down in 2016, but for now the government was focusing on the estero-dwellers.