Instead of rebuilding their homes, about 17 households that were displaced by last Friday afternoon’s landslide in Barangay Cabancalan, Mandaue City, were transferred to a shelter at a compound owned by their employer.
About 60 people packed whatever belongings they can salvage from their homes and transferred to a shelter prepared at the compound owned by Treasure Island paint company where they work.
Hilario Pareja, a 50-year-old resident of Purok Tundan in Sitio Pilit, Barangay Cabancalan, said the company earlier notified them on transferring to the shelter prepared for them within the company compound before the end of the year.
But the landslide forced the company to transfer them earlier than scheduled. Pareja said the families only have to pay the water and power bills.
Felix Suico, chief of the Mandaue City Risk Reduction Management Office, said they helped the residents recover their belongings.
He said Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing is adamant about preventing the families from returning to the site.
Quisumbing believed that the company had encroached on the three-meter easement of the Butuanon River