Stilt houses and other structures that violate the three-meter easement zone in some coastal barangays in Lapu-Lapu City will be demolished starting today.
BOARDING houses, commercial structures and piggeries violating the three-meter easement zone along the Mactan Channel will be the first to go.
This was the directive of Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza as the demolition of illegal structures in at least six barangays in the city’s coastal areas starts today.
Lawyer Ethelbert Ouano of the City Legal Office said there are more or less 3,000 structures that violated the three-meter easement zone in the channel.
Of this number, 190 are marked structures composed of boarding houses, commercial buildings and piggeries which will be demolished first.
“Dili man sab gud mahimo nga magsige nalang ta og postpone kay gitawag na sa DENR ang atong attention tungod sa kahugaw sa kabaybayonan sa Mactan Channel,” said Radaza. (We cannot keep on postponing this as our attention has been called by the DENR due to the contamination in the Mactan Channel).
Financial assistance
According to the mayor, they will be offering financial assistance to the qualified easement settlers since they cannot provide a relocation site yet.
She explained that there is a mass housing project initiated by President Rodrigo Duterte but said they are still in the process of acquiring a lot for the medium-rise buildings for the informal settlers available through a Community Mortgage Program (CMP).
But while waiting for the mass housing project to be completed, Radaza is advising affected individuals to find themselves a temporary place to stay.
Around 30 police and Crowd Dispersal Management (CDM) personnel will assist the 50-member demolition team today.
The destruction of illegal structures starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 3 in the afternoon every day until marked structures are destroyed.
The six affected barangays are Poblacion, Pajo, Pusok, Ibao, Buaya and Mactan.
“Gawas nga delikado nga puy-an ang daplin sa dagat nga gi-declare nga danger zone sa atong balaod, tumong usab sa siyudad ang paglimpyo sa kabaybayonan aron ma-preserbar ang kalimpyo sa atong kadagatan,” said Mayor Radaza. (Aside from it being dangerous to live in houses built along our shorelines, it is also the city’s aim to clean our shorelines to preserve the cleanliness of our seawaters).