Capitol sets aside P15M to relocate 600 families

Capitol has allocated P15 million under the 2007 Annual Investment Plan (AIP) for the relocation of about 600 Cebu City families occupying province-owned properties to a capitol-acquired property in barangay Tunghaan, Minglanilla town.

Provincial Treasurer Roy Salubre clarified the families to be relocated do not belong to those also subject for eviction for non-compliance with what was stipulated under Provincial Ordinance No. 93-1.

Salubre said these families are those presently occupying capitol-owned properties in sitio Sudlon, barangay Lahug, which was formerly occupied by the then Sudlon Agricultural School, another also fronting the Waterfront Hotel in the same barangay and near the vacated property of the Cebu International School in barangay Banilad.

However, he said the development of the 6.7-hectare relocation site in Minglanilla town has yet to proceed as they have yet to get the endorsement of the concerned barangay for the said housing project.

An endorsement from the local government unit where the proposed project is to be implemented is a prerequisite for the issuance of an environmental compliance certificate from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Residents near the project site reportedly have apprehensions on the said proposed housing program in view of the negative effect a drainage system of a nearby private subdivision has caused them.

Nevertheless, Salubre said Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has called the officials of the said barangay for consultation in her office regarding the details of the said proposed housing project this October 19.

The said proposed housing project is to be undertaken by capitol in partnership with Gawad Kalinga.

Capitol's equity of the said project is a P15-million fund intended for site development and which was allocated under the 2007 AIP.

The said amount was already earmarked in the 2006 AIP but it reverted back to the general funds for delays in the implementation of the said project so that it was re-appropriated again in next year's AIP, Salubre explained.

Meanwhile, Garcia has clarified a comment earlier issued by Cherry Ballescas, the chairwoman of a conglomeration of non-government organizations, people's organizations, and civil society groups called Partnership for Progressive Cebu as to why the province allocated more for other projects "than for the poverty of the people".

This as Ballescas cited items included in the 2007 AIP that were reportedly higher compared to what the Provincial Development Council has allocated for the urban poor dwellers, such as the P20-million budget representing financial support for the Malapascua Island Eco-tourism Development Plan and another P300-million allocation for capitol's asphalting and road concreting program. The P627-million worth of projects identified under the 2007 AIP was approved by the PDC in a meeting last week.

In answer to Ballescas' comment, the governor debunked insinuations that it proposed to spend more for projects other than for the poverty of the people, adding that capitol will even spend funds to address the problem of urban poor dwellers in Cebu City. - Cristina C. Birondo