Burnt Houses. A few burnt and smoking houses still stand amid the hundreds of houses razed in the past 11 p.m. Thursday fire in Barangay Duljo Fatima, Cebu City. The fire destroyed hundreds of houses and displaced hundreds of residents in six sitios of the barangay (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA).
THE Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) is hoping that families who were affected by the fire in Barangay Duljo-Fatima last week can rebuild their damaged houses before December 25 so they can celebrate Christmas in their own homes.
But it seems it would take time for them to rebuild their homes as the city’s Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) still has to implement a road reblocking in the area.
The city will give housing materials and P20,000 assistance to the fire victims, but no schedule has been set yet for the road reblocking.
“I still can’t say when the reblocking would start because this would depend on the weather. But as much as possible, my commitment to the people is that before Christmas, they can return to their assigned lots,” DWUP head Genevieve Alcoseba said.
Alcoseba revealed that the fire victims were very cooperative during their public information and consultation program last Tuesday as they embraced the idea of establishing new roads.
“Right now, the DEPW personnel and our technical team will cooperate with one another so that it (reblocking) will be done the right way. The roads need to be established because the area is large,” Alcoseba said.
The DWUP, together with the DEPW, will conduct a survey in the area for the road reblocking and to determine the lots that will be assigned to the fire victims./USJ-R Intern John Carlo Villaruel