Council asks Rama to fasttrack reblocking

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council had asked Mayor Michael Rama, through the Division for the Welfare of Urban Poor (DWUP), to prioritize the reblocking of a certain area in barangay Carreta that was hit by a fire two weeks ago so that the affected families can start rebuilding their homes.

Councilor Alvin Dizon, who chairs the City Council’s Committee on Housing, has observed that the barangays’ evacuation centers are not enough to accommodate the more than 100 fire victims. This prompted some families to build their shanties along the streets.

Dizon had successfully convinced his fellow city legislators to support his resolution calling the attention of the mayor, through DWUP head Collin Rosell, to speed up the reblocking of the affected areas.

Rama’s policy is not to allow fire victims to rebuild their houses until after the reblocking of the area is completed. This is to accommodate bigger roads to make it easier for firetrucks to respond to fire alarms. Fire fighters usually complain of the lack of access road in thickly populated areas which made it difficult for them to put off fires.

About 150 families lost their homes in a midday blaze that hit three sitios in barangays Carreta and Tejero. Most of the burned houses were made of light materials.

The city will not give construction materials to the fire victims until after the reblocking is completed.

Cebu City Fire Marshall Aderson Comar said he already submitted his report and recommendation to the City Hall on which areas in the city should be prioritized in the reblocking, even if these areas have not been hit by fires.

T. Villa and F. Villa Streets in barangay T. Padilla are the first roads that were widened to 10 meters after the place was hit by a huge fire, where close to 400 houses were burned last year.  (FREEMAN)