Relocation stalled by tedious legal processes: Barete

Because of the large crack seen on the side of a mountain in Barangay Buhisan, barangay officials want the 300 residents who were at risk to be immediately evacuated. But tedious legal paper works are stalling evacuation plans.
CDN FILE PHOTO

SITIO SANDAYONG

Residents who are staying within the danger zone in Barangay Buhisan, Cebu City may have to wait a bit longer before they can be settled to a permanent relocation site.

In a phone interview with Cebu Daily News, Buhisan Barangay Captain Gremar Barete said tedious legal processes pertaining to lot ownership may hamper their goal of transfering the residents to a safer area before the year ends.

Barete said they have talked several times with the 300 individuals comprising 30 families whose houses are built in Sitio Sandayong, and were glad when they all expressed willingness to leave the area.

Portions of Sitio Sandayong were identified as a landslide danger zone by experts from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Central Visayas (MGB-7).

“As much as gusto namo nga mabalhin na tanan before mahuman ang 2018 pero tan-awon sa namo. Hopefully mahan-ay na ang arrangement sa yuta nga himoon og relocation site,” he said.

(As much as we want all of them to be relocated before 2018 ends, but we will see. Hopefully, the relocation site’s arrangement will be ironed out by then.)

Barete also said he will be meeting with Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and City Councilors Eugenio Gabuya Jr. and Margarita Osmeña anytime next week to discuss the relocation process.

He added that he hoped they will come up with means to fast-track the matter.

“Kasagaran man sad namuyo dinhe dili lot owners. Nag-abang ra ba. Unya willing ra gyud sila mubalhin basta naa lang maplastaran inig human,” said Barete.

(Most of the residents here do not own the lots. They’re only renting. And they’re willing to be relocated if they can settle right after.)

The barangay is now in talks with the owners of two private lots in Sitios Dulhugan and Tubod which they are eyeing as relocation sites.

In 2013, MGB-7 has recommended for an immediate evacuation of the residents on the slopes of Sitio Sandayong in Barangay Buhisan, a hinterland village of Cebu City.

This developed after cracks were found on the mountains after a landslide, triggered by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake in the same year, struck there.

But uncooperative residents made it difficult for the barangay to vacate the area until present barangay officials reminded them of the dangers the cracks posed on their lives following the landslide in Naga City last September that claimed the lives of 78 individuals.