Six displaced Tejero families to get aid

SIX families who voluntarily dismantled their shanties to give way to a Cebu City government drainage project in barangay Tejero will each receive P10, 000 cash assistance from Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district.

Osmeña said even if the families live in the north district, he can allocate part of his pork barrel for them.

He chided Mayor Michael Rama for pushing through with the demolition in the area.

“What the city did to the affected families is a low blow. It’s outright blackmail. I will provide them  financial assistance to help get them started,” he said.

Collin Rosell, chief of the Department for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) and Raquel Arce, head of the city’s demolition team, said the houses of 39 families will have to be demolished for a P1 million drainage project in the site.

The drainage project will be built on the newly opened access road that connects to General Maxilom Avenue in barangay Carreta.

The access road was opened following a huge fire which burned shanties in the area last year.

Arce and Rosell said six of the 39 families will have to go first because the city’s drainage project will cut their houses in half.

They met with these families last Dec. 26 and asked them to voluntarily dismantle their homes.

The families will be relocated to a public land near the Tejero creek.

Only one of the six families was relocated to an unoccupied portion of the fire site, Tejero councilor Garry Lao said.

He said the creek side property promised to the six families doesn’t have an access road.

Lao said a bridge should be built in the area to give access to the six families to a city road located on the other side of the creek.

Lao also complained on Arce and Rosell’s failure to coordinate with the barangay officials. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac