The Mandaue City government will have to take care of families living under the old Mandaue-Mactan bridge who will be displaced during the repair of the bridge that connects Mactan Island from mainland Cebu.
Engr. Renult Ricardo, Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) assistant sixth district engineer, said that the DPWH can only allocate funds for the purchase of lot for road right-of-way but not for the relocation or release of cash assistance to the affected families.
But Tony Pet Juanico, Mandaue’s Housing and Urban Development Office (HUDO) head, said the city does not have a suitable relocation site to offer to the affected families.
“Since we still do not have a relocation site, then we will have to process for the release of financial assistance,” Juanico added.
The DPWH has identified at least 50 families living under the bridge who will be evicted once the repair of the bridge starts.
Ricardo, Juanico and representatives from Jegma Construction, the bridge project contractor, conducted an ocular inspection of the area on Friday morning to determine the number of families affected by the repair and the extent of the repair.
They would meet at 2 p.m. on Friday at the Mandaue City Hall to discuss about the plight of the affected families.