Mayor’s order: Evacuate all settlers within 24 hours

Children climb heaps of garbage that reach 20 meters high in the Inayawan landfill. Will they and their neighbors below be ready to move out today as ordered by Mayor Michael Rama? (CDN PHOTO/ TONEE DESPOJO)

No relocation site is ready yet.

None of the 70 families living in the Inayawan landfill have been evaluation  for social housing or briefed about the terms.

Nevertheless Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, back from an official trip in South Korea,  yesterday gave the  order to have the community of garbage pickers transferred immediately citing their own safety.

“I have already directed that within 24 hours, we will be getting all those people out of the danger zones. We cannot wait if (the hazard)  has already been established because nature can just come anytime,” he told reporters.

He convened a task force to conduct the forced evacuation.

He said  that heavy rains and strong winds during the next wet season could cause a landslide of  trash in the landfill, where mounds of garbage reach a height of 20 meters.

Families there have been living in the government landfill since it was built in the 1990s and even before that when it was an open dumpsite.

Poor sanitation and methane gas buildup that has caused occasional fire outbreaks were other  risks identified by city disaster officials facing 80 families living in 72 shanties at the back of the landfill facing  the sea in Cebu city’s eastcoast.

The area was  declared under a state of emergency  yesterday by the Cebu CIty Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council.

Starting today, the families will be evacuated to the barangay’s sports complex, said Inayawan barangay captain Lutherlee “Lotlot” Ignacio-Soon.

Members of the CCDRRMC and barangay officials met with the settlers last night and told of the city’s plans.

CCDRRMC executive director Simeon Romarate said they have started preparing the sports complex where the families will stay temporarily. The area will be guarded and  social welfare workers will provide meals for a few days. Buses will transport them there.

What happens next  — how long they will stay and where they will end up wasn’t clear.

“Let’s just talk about first getting them out now. Then we’ll discuss about where they will be transferred later,” Rama said.

He directed Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) chief Collin Rossell to work on the relocation of the settlers.

A task force  formed by the mayor yesterday is  headed by Department of Public Services (DPS) head Engr. Rolando Ardosa. Members  include Rossell, Soon, the city legal office and Jade Ponce head of the Solid Waste Management Board (SWMB) head Jade Ponce.

Once the settlers leave, the area will be cordoned and closed off. Settlers have to  bring all their belongings when they leave the area.

Romarate said they can  can dismantle their shanties  so the materials can be resued. Barangay officials earlier sought the help of City Hall to relocate the families citing the interior location of the households which makes it dfficult to reach them during emergencies.

The barangay captain was worried that the recent removal of rocks from the base of the landfill for use in a  seawall project has also threatened the integrity of the pile of trash and may trigger a landslide.