The fire victims of Guizo-Mantuyong were temporarily taking shelter at the Cebu International Convention Center. (CDN FILE PHOTO)
ABOUT a hundred out of the 800 families who fell victim to the huge Guizo-Mantuyong fire last March have started relocating to a 9.2-hectare land in Barangay Guizo and Mantuyong, Mandaue City this week.
Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis “Luigi” Quisumbing announced on Tuesday that only over one hundred families presently residing in the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) were allowed to transfer since the development and the reblocking of the relocation site was still on-going.
Quisumbing said that 65 percent or 520 families will be relocated in the 9.2-hectare land while 35% or around 280 families will be relocated in a property acquired by the Mandaue City government in Lapu-Lapu City.
The land was bought using the P90-million budget allocated for the supposed transitory housing for the fire victims.
Each family will be given a 28-square-meter lot for free.
“The mayor thought it would cost lesser if we acquire a land where the victims could build their own houses rather than shelter them in temporary transitory houses which will only be demolished right after,” Mandaue City public information officer Jun Veliganio said.
The families are expected to be fully relocated by the end of March 2017.
Apas fire victims
Meanwhile, the Cebu Provincial Government distributed 200 tents, mats and tarpaulins to the fire victims of Barangay Apas who lost their houses last December 5.
Baltazar Tribunalo of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, said that there were around 200 tents given to the victims.
Tribunalo said fire victims were also each given eight cans of sardines, 10 kilos of rice and water sanitation and hygiene kits.
A housing site in Barangay Kalunasan is being prepared for their relocation early next year.
“They will only pay P430+ per month in 25 years,” said Tribunalo.
Duljo-Fatima victims
Over at City Hall, the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) met with the federation officers and residents of the 68 houses affected by a road widening in Barangay Duljo-Fatima.
These houses were spared by a fire to hit the area early December which was considered to be the biggest in the city this year.
“It will be seven meters because we have a future plan of constructing a boulevard. We will use the three meters easement,” DWUP head Geneveive Alcoseba said.
Alcoseba said that some residents were hoping that their homes will be cleared only after the holidays./with Jheysel Ann Tangaro, USJR Comm Intern