Will the entry of Vice President Jejomar Binay, chairman of the nation’s Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, into the controversial clearing of houses along the Mahiga Creek do anything to defuse the tension between settlers and Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama?
The vice president’s immediate suggestion was intended to help the two sides meet halfway through the Community Mortgage Program, which allows low-income families to avail of government loans to buy the land they occupy or where they will be relocated.
Unfortunately for the settlers, Mayor Rama stands by the Water Code of the Philippines that prohibits the building of any structure near the country’s waterways, and the mayor looks determined to clear the Mahiga creekside of any obstruction before the rainy season comes to avoid a repeat of the Jan. 25, 2011 flashflood that hit Mandaue and Talisay cities.
Second, the mayor is also against relocation for the settlers, saying this would encourage prospective squatters to build shanties anywhere in the city and stay there since the government would provide them with relocation come demolition time.
Bimbo Fernandez, former city administrator who is helping the settlers, said one reason for the impasse between the settlers and the mayor is that settlers cannot accept relocation sites offered by the city since these would not give them the same access to important locations that their current space gives. Fernandez questioned the city’s refusal to buy better-located lots in light of its prosperity.
Binay’s CMP proposal would only work if relocation would be offered to the settlers. The Mahiga settlers certainly cannot be allowed to buy the lots they occupy along the Creek unless the city exempts them from obeying the Water Code.
Perhaps Binay should coordinate with Cebu City North District Rep. Cutie del Mar and South District Rep. Tomas Osmeña in settling the Mahiga affair.
The two Lower House members have made available cash assistance to affected settlers through their pork barrels. But they don’t have to make it seem as if they’re the settlers’ saviors from “Big Bad Rama.” The mayor is also thinking proactively, saving the settlers from being swept away the next time the creek overflows.
Perhaps what Del Mar and Osmeña can do is see themselves as part of a synergistic setup where Rama clears the creekside and they, with the help of the vice president, explore how the CMP—far more dignifying than doleouts—can work for settlers who would have to be relocated somewhere agreeable both to them and to the mayor.
The congressmen should resist the temptation to score political points for 2013 against Rama, who has the burden of saving creekside residents and the rest of the city from flashfloods and who is right in his desire to dissuade prospective squatters from coming to the city with a naive mindset of gain without pain.