Road to Summit venue: Voluntary removal of illegal structures set 'til next week

At least 20 families have until end of next week to voluntarily demolish their structures that encroach the sidewalks along the ceremonial road from Juan Luna Street up to Marco Polo Plaza, one of the venues of the 12th ASEAN Summit in December.

Nagiel Banacia, Cebu City Public Information officer and Mayor Tomas Osmeña's representative to the Cebu Organizing Committee told The FREEMAN the families have until next week to comply with the notice sent to them by the city. If not, the city government will be the one to demolish the structures.

These encroaching structures are located mostly in the vicinity of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and the street corners across JY Square Mall leading to Nivel Hills.

Banacia said the city government has required a two-meter easement for the sidewalk but the families with encroaching structures reportedly sought reconsideration to reduce the easement to 1.5 meters, something that the city has allowed.

The city government has exerted apparent effort in making sure that Cebu City will not be an eyesore during the summit in December. Lights would reportedly be installed along the ceremonial road leading to Marco Polo Plaza.

Three major hotels in Cebu including Marco Polo Plaza, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and the Shangri-La Mactan Island Resort will host majority of the meetings during the four-day event.

Facelift efforts of Cebu City, including those of neighboring cities Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu even caught the attention of San Juan Mayor Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito who expressed during his visit two weekends ago that he is opposing the demolition and relocation of squatters to prepare for the summit.

But Mayor Tomas Osmeña has stressed that the city is not grandstanding in its facelift efforts. Prior moves to demolish vending stalls from several streets in Cebu city were made owing to a complaint from the City Traffic Operations Management that the stalls have become nuisance to pedestrians.

"It has always been my policy that we should not hide poverty, that we should not be ashamed if we're poor. Why are we going to grandstand on the ASEAN Summit?" Osmeña said.

Banacia himself had described Ejercito's remarks as a "sweeping generalization", saying the mayor might just have been misinformed.

In Cebu City, at least 138 informal settlers are affected by road rehabilitation projects. Some other 170 families at the port have been ordered to move out. In Mandaue City, where the Cebu International Convention Center, the main summit venue, is located, at least 208 families will be relocated to the proposed Paradise Island Housing Project which will involve the construction of two five-story buildings. - Joeberth M. Ocao