Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama ordered the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) to ease the requirements of beneficiaries of the city’s Slum Improvement and Resettlement (SIR) program.
“I’ve been telling DWUP to pursue it under the Land to the Landless program. These people have been there, why the difficulty? So my directive is make it easier for them,” Rama said.
In a dialogue at the City Hall’s roof-deck, the Alliance of SIR Beneficiaries Association (ASIRBA) said they still have difficulty owning lots in areas of the city declared as part of the SIR program
“City Ordinance 2259 gives another 10 years for the implementation fo the program and the easing up of the process of paying in full the lots of beneficiaries.
DWUP and LHB has been tasked to do the IRR,” ASIRBA spokesperson Floro Enricoso said.
The SIR is a national program intended to give settlers of SIR communities a chance to own their own lots on a staggered payment scheme.
The program started in 1979 during the time of the late president Ferdinand Marcos under the Human Settlement Program. Only 36 percent of beneficiaries were able to pay and own their lot as of June 2009.
City Ordinance 2259 authored by Councilor Alvin Dizon and approved in 2010, extends the implementation of the program to 10 more years.