250,000 People Living in Cebu City Danger Zones Need to be Relocated

Some 250,000 underprivileged people living in danger zones in the city need to be relocated, an official said.

Collin Rosell, chief of the city’s Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP), said these people should have been relocated 21 years ago as mandated under the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA).

But ironically the number of illegal settlers is increasing significantly, he said.

Rosell said there are still 41,000 families waiting to be accommodated by the socialized housing programs since 2012.

The 41,000 families translate to 250,000 individuals based on the 2010 Census of Population and Housing conducted by the National Statistics Office, citing an average household size of 6.8 members for Region 7.

Of the total number, 10,000 families are living within danger zone areas like riverbanks, creeks and landslide-prone areas, roads, parks and other public places.

The backlog, Rosell said has not been settled because of the uncontrolled increase of illegal dwellers every year.

Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon, committee on housing chairman, is appealing to the executive department to hasten the relocation of the urban poor families including the illegal settlers living around the Carreta creek, whose houses are expected to be demolished.

“The mayor has always a choice. He can choose to fully implement the law and that is, not only to evict the informal settlers but also ensure that proper and adequate relocation is provided,” he said.

Dizon cited the UDHA of 1992, stating the provision of relocation and resettlement sites in cases of demolition.

Rosell said they cannot relocate about 250,000 “homeless and underprivileged” people at once.

To gradually address the problem, Rosell said they have to prioritize those to be resettled.

“We need to prioritize. We can’t accommodate them all in one relocation site,” he said. (PNA) JBP/EB/EBP