For Evicted Talamban Residents: Rama orders relocation site

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Acting Mayor Michael Rama ordered the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor to find a relocation site and come up with other ways to help the 60 families affected by the demolition in sitio Kalubihan, barangay Talamban the other day despite the resistance of the affected families to offers of help.

He also ordered the DWUP staff present during the demolition - Ralph Saison, Leonardo Rabacca and Nelio Melendrez - to arrange a meeting with the officers of the St. Mary’s Home Owners Association in his office.

Benjamin Cabinque, the said owner of the lot, has offered a relocation site in Liloan town for the families with a sack of rice for each affected family as assistance even before the first demolition was executed. However, the residents still refused the offer.

In relation to the demolition, Cebu City Police Office director Patrocinio Comendador said that the lengthy talk with Bayan Muna-Central Visayas chairman Arman Perez, together with the members of the Special Weapons and Tactics, led to reconciliation; thus disregarding the filing of charges.

Instead, they talked on the proper procedures regarding the facilitating of a demolition or eviction if ever future demolition/eviction transpires to avoid tension between the dwellers and the demolition team.

“There could always be path to a peaceful solution,” Comendador said.

The SWAT members, Comendador pointed out, only intervened during the demolition to diffuse the tension that ensued between the dwellers along with representatives from Bayan Muna, who served as organizers, and the police team.

Meanwhile, the Partido ng Manggagawa called on Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church to support the call for a moratorium on evictions of urban poor as another "violent" eviction occurred the other day.

“We ask that the Church lend its voice to the demand for a moratorium on demolitions and a ban on violent evictions. As the Church backs the rural poor’s fight for agrarian reform, so we hope it will also support the urban poor’s struggle for decent housing,” PM-Cebu chairperson Greg Janginon said. – Crischellyn Abayon and Queenie Estrella Kuebler, UP Cebu MassComm interns; Niña Sumacot and Mitchelle Palaubsanon/MEEV