Relocation lot in timberland? Jonas unfazed by rap threats

CEBU, Philippines - Pending the question whether or not the 6.5-hectare relocation site in Barangay Paknaan, Mandaue City, is timberland, Mayor Jonas Cortes led the turnover ceremony of the first two finished model houses to their beneficiaries yesterday in time for the culmination of the city’s Urban Poor Solidarity Week celebration.

The beneficiaries are Virginia Martel and Danilo Maranga, both members of the Bantayan sa Hari Homeowners’ Association in Barangay Looc.

In his speech before the hundreds of urban poor representing the 160 registered homeowners association of Mandaue City, Cortes asked if he deserves to be sued when he is just doing his obligation to provide homes to the homeless.

“Pasagdi nalang, kita gitamay, gipasanginlan apan naa man na sa Bibliya gikaingon nga kinsa kadtong nagpataas maoy ipaubos, ug kinsa kadtong nagpaubos maoy ipataas,” Cortes said adding that it is part of his public service.

“Dili ta lang paminawon basta husto lang ug makaayo sa kadaghanan, atong buhaton. Andam ko moatubang sa ilang mga pasangil,” Cortes said.

Members of urban poor organizations Philcadan and Sitio Rosal Neighborhood Association in Banilad, Mandaue City, earlier asked the advice of Assistant Deputy Ombudsman Virginia Santiago regarding the 6.5-hectare relocation site that Cortes provided them saying that it is not a safe place to live in.

But Santiago, who visited the place, recommended that the question whether the titled relocation site in Barangay Paknaan is timberland or not should first be resolved with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources or the Bureau of Lands.

The urban poor organization is also reportedly set to file criminal and administrative charges against Cortes for insisting on demolishing the houses of the urban poor and relocating them to Barangay Paknaan.

Philcadan member Roberto Letaba even asked the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas to do a lifestyle check against Cortes for allegedly owning a multi-million newly-built house in Sacres, Barangay Bakilid, Mandaue City.

The 6.5-hectare land area is seen as the relocation site for 1,200 families living along creeks in Mandaue City whose houses are subject for demolition and some communities living in a private land who are under eviction threats.

Admitting that there are still a lot of informal settlers in the city, Cortes asked them to just wait as he assured them of their homes and land.

“You may be landless, you may be homeless but you are not hopeless,” Cortes said.

In a press conference prior to the turnover ceremony, Mandaue City Hall consultant for the urban poor Francisco Amit told the press that he personally suspected politics behind the filing of charges against the mayor.

Amit said Cortes is ready to face the charges and has nothing to hide.

Amit also corrected that the group questioning the title of the relocation site is not the legitimate organization but some professional squatters who do not qualify for the relocation under the Community Mortgage Program.

He said that these people own houses so they cannot avail of the relocation as it is only intended to the urban poor who do not own a house.

The construction of the model row house commenced last November 21, 2011 with the community construction workers under the supervision of engineers from Philippine Action for Community-led Shelter Initiatives Inc.

The Mandaue City government provided land filing material to a portion of the area where construction materials can be loaded.

The Homeless Peoples’ Federation, which is affiliated with Homeless International based in the United Kingdom, has approved the funding for the construction of housing units in the relocation area.

The group financed the construction of 156 houses for the beneficiary-members.

The two-story model house has a lot area of 32 square meters and is made of indigenous materials mostly bricks called Interlocking Compressed Earth Block, a technology developed in Thailand and produced by PACSI, a local conduit of Homeless International.

The model house costs P90,000 which amount will be availed by the beneficiaries under a soft-loan program through the CMP of the Socialized Housing Finance Corporation. — (FREEMAN)