Councilors urge Rama to suspend demolition

Members of the Cebu City Council yesterday called on mayor Michael Rama to suspend the demolition of structures illegally built along the creeks and rivers until such time that the city is able to provide them a relocation site.

Councilor Augustus Pe Jr. said in a resolution that he presented to the council in yesterday morning’s session that there is a P78.2-million allocation from the Poverty Allocation Fund (PAF -3) that Rama could use for the purpose.

The council passed Pe’s resolution.

However, Mayor Michael Rama said he would only suspend demolition of river and creekside structures if the council would be able to present to him a solution to the flooding problems.

“I am willing to stop basta mo hatag silag storya unsa on pag ingon sa bagyo nga ayaw usa, ayaw pag baha,” said Rama.

Rama said rains brought by typhoon Chedeng and the coming rainy season would prove the need to clear waterways of illegal structures.

“If we do not do anything, everyone including the barangay captains, the council members and the mayor will be held liable,” he said.

Lawyer Collin Rosell, head of the Department for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP), denied claims of families demolished from the Mahiga Creek that they were never offered relocation.

He said the affected families were toured to the St. Michael’s Village, an urban poor housing site in San Jose, Talamban, and even given what they needed to fill up before the demolition started on May 2.

But the affected families opted to remain along the Mahiga Creek.

Rama earlier said he considered availing Vice President Jejomar Binay’s offer to come up with a comprehensive housing program to address the city’s urban poor housing needs.

Gavino Figurarion, project manager of the National Housing Authority (NHA) in Central Visayas, wrote Rama on May 23 to request for an appointment where they could discuss the loan offer in details.

Meanwhile, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia will meet Vice President Jejomar Binay on June 1 together with Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama.

This is to discuss the idea of a housing program tie-up with the city government, provincial government and under the office of Binay.

Binay, who chairs the Housing Urban Development Council (HUDC), had discussed this idea during his visit last week with Garcia. Mayor Rama also suggested this idea to Garcia during the Metro Cebu Development Coordination Council meeting on Tuesday.

“He is, in fact, very aggressive now on the housing campaign on being able to give opportunities to the Filipinos to acquire a house and we’re talking here of Filipinos across the broad spectrum,” Garcia said.

Prior to this meeting, Garcia plans to gather first the data they need. These data will be provided by the city government.

Garcia said this will help them determine what programs under the office of the vice president will be suitable for the affected settlers.

“We need the specifics. How many are we talking about here… conceptualize already on what specific program under the office of the vice president could we possibly propose that this be covered,” she said. /With a report from Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus