Emergency needs first before UP Cebu dialog, says Labella

ACTING Mayor Edgardo Labella yesterday said the Cebu city government will  talk with the landowner of the burned sitio in barangay Lahug “after we attend to the emergency needs” of the fire victims.

He said City Hall is still focused on stabilizing the “disaster situation” in sitio Avocado.

Whether families can return to the site to rebuild their homes depends on whether City Hall will go along with plans of the University of the Philppines Cebu to proceed with construction of extension school buildings there.

So far, City Hall has not distributed shelter materials like plywood boards and GI sheets that residents could use to rebuild homes.

Back hoes and dump trucks of the city government are almost done clearing out the rubble in an interior 4,000-square-meter zone razed by the December 26 fire.

“There should be immediate relief for the victims of  disaster. The question of ownership can be threshed out later. The primary concern of the city is to take care of its inhabitants. That’s why we immediately cleared the area,” he said.

Social workers set up a command center in the Lahug Elementary School where families evacuated.    This is where dry goods, donations, cash aid  and meals are distributed to fire victims.

Lahug barangay officials who complained that the re-blocking was being carried out without consultation said they were surprised why City Hall hasn’t communicated yet with UP Cebu administration about what to do next for the displaced families who number 890 individuals.

On December 29, UP Cebu Dean Liza Corro went to inspect the fire scene, then visited the evacuation center to explain to families that the university plans to  use the land for construction of new school facilities.

She said a two-hectare relocation site in Nivel Hills in the neighboring barangay of Busay was available for all affected families.

Collin Rosell, head of the Cebu City Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP), agreed that a discussion is needed with the UP Cebu administration once a housing program is ready for the people.

“Kon magstorya na karon, we have to bring (the program). Talk with the people first before talking to UP,” he said

He said the main focus for now is disaster response.

“What we have here is a crisis situation wherein we need all the help. Regarding ownership, if we dwell on that, it will delay us some more because it is a complicated matter,” he said.

He said what is certain is that people in sitio Avocado where the fire occured need to restore their homes.