On the first day of his third and final term, reelected Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista said around 55,000 families may end up homeless due to the national government’s infrastructure projects in the city—and that the newly installed Duterte administration needs to help them.
After taking his oath at Quezon Memorial Circle, Bautista said major infrastructure projects such as Skyway Stage 3, as well as road widening and flood-control programs, would displace informal settlers who stand in their way.
“They have funds for these projects but the national government, through the National Housing Authority (NHA), did not allocate funding for the families who will be affected,” he noted in his inaugural speech.
A list from the city government showed that among those who would be affected were informal settlers from Daang Tubo (due to the placement of a Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System pipe), Balon Bato in Balintawak (installment of power transmission lines), Republic Avenue near Luzon Avenue (Segment 8.2 of the Manila North Expressway Project), Sitio Militar and C-6.
Lack of funds
According to Bautista, the lack of funds to relocate these families was delaying work on the North Luzon Expressway-South Luzon Expressway road connector project and the upgrading of water pipes in Quezon City.
“As mayor of Quezon City, I am asking for the support of everybody. I will not allow all these projects [to] push through without proper relocation for the families who will be displaced,” he said, adding that the residents should not be driven out of their homes like animals.
P20 billion needed
“They labor daily to support their families and it is the hope of my administration to give them proper housing,” Bautista said.
According to a technical working group that looked into the problem, the government will need around P20 billion to relocate the affected families.
“That’s a very big amount compared to the P5 billion yearly plan of the NHA,” Bautista said.
The newly installed Duterte administration must be made aware of the problem and the possible solutions, he added.