Rocks fly as sitio Mahayahay folk try to resist Mandaue gov’t demolition

The demolition scene at Mahayahay barangay Subandaku Mandaue City beside the Mahiga creek. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

A government demolition crew yesterday entered sitio Mahayayay in barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue city and started tearing down the first of 153 shanties near the Mahiga Creek.

At first residents resisted. Women locked arms together in a human barricade with menfolk standing behind them, some holding chunks of concrete and bottles, ready to fight.

At about 8 a.m., a phalanx of policemen with shields and batons stood across them ready to press into the bamboo gate of the compound.

Verbal negotiations with the homeowners president Ester Diaz and lawyer Giovanni Tianero of the Mandaue City Legal Office ended in a stalemate.

Settlers refused to transfer to a 6.5 hectare relocation site in barangay Paknaan which is part of a city government plan to remove habitants from danger zones near the Mahiga Creek, which overflows and is a source of flooding.

By about 8:30 a.m. a fire truck doused protestors with water, scattering them.

The urban poor protestors gripped each other tighter as chunks of rock were thrown at the police. The resistance died down after a few minutes of being bombarded with the water hose.

TWO INJURED

During the commotion, 51-year-old Elma Remedio and her daughter Elfie, 21, both residents were injured in the head by the rocks.

“Nagbarog ra man gud mi diri sa gawas, unya pagbinatuhay na naigo mi,” said Remedio in tears. (We were just standing here outside, then we were hit by the rocks thrown.) They were given first aid by medical staff standing by with an ambulance.

Police and a 50-man demolition squad then entered and destroyed the bamboo barricades and started taking down houses of wood and concrete.

No one was injured among the government forces.

At noon, social workers distributed food packs of rice and canned goods. They will do this for three days as assistance, said Violy Cavada, DSWD head.

As of 6 p.m., four concrete houses were taken down. The demolition stopped when rain started pouring , but will continue today until the area beside the SM Hypermart is cleared.

NOTICE TO VACATE

Only a handful of the 153 households near the Mahiga Creek want to move out, but after the forced demolition they either have to transfer there or look for a cheap place to rent.

The Sitio Mahayahay Alliance of Structure Homes (SMASH) located beside SM Hypermart headed by its president Leopoldo Echavez is the first group of around 400 informal settlers that are subject of forced demolition.

They were sent notices to vacate since August 2012 and another set issued in March this year.

The settlers said the relocation site in barangay Paknaan, still under development, was very muddy, prone to flooding and far from their jobs in Cebu City.

Some also chafed at the terms of the low cost housing program, which allows them to pay in amortizations over 25 years. Failure to pay three months of mortgage would be a ground for expulsion.

Some said the would rather collect the financial assistance offered by Mandaue City government of P17,000 per household.

“Ila unta ihatag namo ang cash assistance aron naa mi magasto sa pagpahawa dinhi, unya wala pa man mi bayri, mao nga wala pa mi mohawa.” (They should have given us the financial assistance so we can have something to spend) said Lolita Felicano, a resident there since 1986.

Felicano also questioned the cost of the housing unit priced first at P96,000 but which rose to P150,000.

“Mao na’y gipanghambog nila sa una nga nalipay mi kay makaya ra namo bayran sulod sa 25 years pero duna sa’y uban nga ni avail na lang sa financial assistance kay wala gyu’y ikabayad sa binuwan,” (That’s what they bragged before, that we would be happy because we could pay for it in 25 years but others still prefer to receive the financial assistance because they can’t afford to pay the monthly mortgage) said Felicano.

Tony Pet Juanico, Mandaue’s Housing and Urban Development Officer, said the site can already by inhabited and already has about 300 relocatees living there.

“We ask them to bear with us for now because the area is still be developed. The drainage system and other disaster mitigating measures are being put in,” he said.

Carlo Ynanez from the Mandaue city legal office who supervised the demolition said they will clear the sitio of all dwellings and let the city engineer’s office fence the area to prevent informal settlers from coming back.

They will go to the other side of the Mahiga creek and demolish other structures within the three-meter easement.

Yesterday’s demolition was secured by six SWAT police team members, 11 from the Subangdaku police station and 25 members of the Crowd Dispersal Management (CDM), said Inspector Miguel Andeza, chief of the Subangdaku police station.

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