Cebu City Needs 150 Has. of Land to Relocate 41,000 Informal Settlers – Exec

The Cebu City Government needs some 150 hectares of land to relocate some 41,000 families of informal settlers in all 80 barangays in the city, an official said.

Lawyer Collin Rosell, the city’s Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) chief, said the 150 hectares the city needs will be over and above the total 70 hectares of land in the different villages the city currently has under the program.

The present lots, he said, already have intended beneficiaries, he said.

Of the 41,000 families still to be relocated, Rosell said, 10,000 live in danger zones such as areas near creeks, rivers and other waterways.

The remaining 31,000, he said, are families from the 80 barangays who have illegal structures on either public land or privately-owned lots.

These families, he said, are all qualified to avail of the City’s socialized housing program as they are “underprivileged” and “homeless” citizens.

Under the Urban Housing and Development Act, these citizens are individuals or families whose income or combined household income falls below the poverty threshold set by the National Economic and Development Authority.

Rosell said the data that DWUP has is based on the city-wide registration for the city’s socialized housing program that they conducted in 2012.

Rosell said he supports the proposed ordinance of Cebu City Councilors Alvin Dizon and Nestor Archival that seeks to institutionalize the city’s site development and lot acquisition for the socialized housing program.

Among the provisions is the mandatory creation of a site development and lot acquisition fund, which will be at least two percent of the city’s annual budget.

The amount, it added, should not be less than Php100 million per year.

“We would really welcome the passage of this ordinance because of the backlog we have. There is really a need to have a regular allocation annually for our socialized housing program,” he said. (PNA) FFC/EB