Fire victims wait for their turn to receive the financial aid from the Mandaue City Government. CDN Digital photo | Mary Rose Sagarino
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu—Victims of the fire in Sitio Riverside in Barangay Subangdaku here last August received their financial assistance from the City Hall on Tuesday, September 21, 2021.
Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes said 108 families were qualified to received the cash aid from the government.
The city gave P10,000 each to owners with totally damaged homes and P5,000 to renters.
Cortes, Vice Mayor Glenn Bercede, City Councilors, Subangdaku Barangay Captain Ernie Manatad and personnel from the City Social Welfare and Development distributed the cash assistance to fire victims at the city hall grounds.
The fire that happened on August 16 burned down 25 homes.
READ: Monday morning fire guts 25 homes in Brgy Subangdaku, Mandaue City
Ricardo Igot, one of the beneficiaries, said he is very happy to receive the aid. At present, they are only living in a shanty they assembled in the area. He said he will use the money to materials to build a better house.
Manatad said that right now, they are negotiating with the lot owner who is selling the area.
Manatad said during their meeting on Monday that some of the Subangdaku fire victims were willing to buy the price offered by the lot owner. They just don’t have enough money to pay it yet.
Manatad said they will be tapping the Vincentian Foundation if they could procure the lot as they have funds for the procurement of socialized housing.
“Ang mga nasunugan adto na mubayad nila (foundation),” said Manatad.
(The fire victims will just have to pay the foundation.)
Meanwhile, 250 Persons With Disability (PWDs) in Mandaue received financial assistance worth P2,000 from the Ang Probinsyano Partylist.
/bmjo