Barangay Carreta and S. Osmeña Road residents appeal for stay of demolition

LEAH  Tornu, 28, is worried her pre-school son Peter John and other school children in their neighborhood have to drop out of school if a  court-ordered demolition pushes through.

Eugenio Fuente Jr., sheriff IV of the Regional Trial Court Branch 7, said the notice to vacate in a writ of a demolition against 56 households in  sitio Tabay, barangay Carreta  expired last Monday.

The demolition order  for J. de Veyra Street stemmed from a case filed by Domingo Garcia, the lot owner, against the informal settlers in 2009.

Meanwhile, in the S. Osmeña Road in the North Reclamation Area, 32 households living in the old nursery of City Hall are also asking for more time.

“We appeal to the mayor to defer the demolition until the end of the school year because we have students,” Turno said in Cebuano.

Rama has referred the case of sitio Tabay residents to the Department for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) whom he also directed to file a court intervention on behalf of the affected families.

For the S. Osmeña informal settlers case, Rama said he will  ask the city legal office to see if  City Hall can extend the stay of 32 families living in a 1, 000 square meter lot owned by the city government until after Christmas.

The 32 families were also issued a notice to vacate. The notice  lapsed yesterday but no demolition was implemented yet.

Rama said that he wanted to  clear the area  of informal settlers as part of his plan to develop S. Osmeña Road in the North Reclamation Area into the Sergio Osmeña Business Park.

He said  the nursery lot was an ideal site for  commercial development and he was prepared to sell this to interested buyers./Chief of Reporter Doris C. Bongcac