The Cebu City government is making the two-hectare Block 27 lot in the North Reclamation Area as a temporary relocation site for individuals who are displaced by court-ordered evictions and have no established relocation sites.
“Because we don’t have any temporary relocation site as of now. Again, it is just temporary. We all have the budget, both for the acquisition and site development, so it is just a matter of implementing them. But in the meantime, to provide them (a) place (to stay),” said Acting Cebu City Mayor Margarita Osmeña, who issued a memorandum last June 6 to make Block 27 as a temporary relocation site.
Osmeña also said that since it is just temporary, the displaced families will only be given six months to stay in the area, where they will be provided with basic facilities such as water, electricity and portable toilets.
She said that the displaced families will be monitored by the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) and the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS).
Osmeña also said that since the displaced families’ stay in the area is only temporary, they will not be allowed to build shanties or structures there.
She said they will only be allowed to set up tents during their six-month stay.
“Their stay is just temporary, and it’s not fair for them that they will spend (for their shanties) only for them to be demolished in the end,” she said.
She said that the entire Block 27 was available and could accommodate several of these displaced families.
“Daghan. I asked, eh. Daghan gyud. It is a big property (It can accommodate several families),” she said when asked how many families could be accommodated in the lot.
She also said that transferring the displaced families to the area was not meant to encourage them to stay there but to provide them with a temporary place to stay as mandated by law.
She was referring to the Urban Development and Housing Act which requires adequate relocation whether temporary or permanent to displaced individuals, particularly the underprivileged and homeless individuals, in cases of court-ordered demolition or eviction./UP Intern Amy Macalinao