NHA conducts survey on settlers of Capitol lots

CEBU, Philippines - To distinguish the original occupants from the illegal settlers in lots owned by the Cebu Provincial Government in Barangay Apas, Cebu City, the National Housing Authority (NHA) started yesterday a one-month “validation census” in preparation to convert the area into a socialized housing community.

NHA-7 Manager Gavino Figuracion said there are three teams validating occupants of the 32-hectare lot owned by the Capitol.

“This (validation) will be part para sa pag-analyze sa Province of Cebu unsay maayo nga scheme nga himuon for relocation aron usa ra sila ka community. The governor wants minimum displacement but maximum retention,” Figuracion said.

Figuracion stressed that the process is necessary to check whether there are illegal settlers because there were only 1,059 original occupants in the government-owned lots in their 2002 list.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, according to Figuracion, has only allotted 15.7 of the 32 hectare lots for the socialized housing project in Apas.

 Figuracion also said that the lady governor has strictly directed that the original occupants should be prioritized in the project. He said the fate of the illegal settlers is yet to be decided by the governor. 

However, Barangay Apas Captain Ramil Ayuman told The FREEMAN that there are roughly 3,000 residents occupying the lots owned by Capitol.

“Daghan na gyud ang mga illegal settlers dinhi. May maayo gyud ni nga naay validation aron atong ma-distinguish,” Ayuman said. (We welcome this validation because there are a lot of illegal settlers here.)

Former President Gloria Arroyo declared 32 of the 80-hectare Central Command lots as a socialized housing site by signing Presidential Proclamation 409 in June 2003.

Ayuman said that the Capitol, through a resolution dated May 8, 2012, directed the Federation of Barangay Apas Residents Association (FBARA) to prevent more illegal settlers from constructing structures in the lots intended for the housing project.

The distribution of lost, however, will be determined by the Capitol based on the capability of the occupants to pay. 

“We need to asses kun affordable ba para nila ang kadak-unon sa lot ug kun makaya ba nila og bayad,” Figuracion said.

In 1959, the Provincial Government donated the 80-hectare Central Command lots solely for military purposes. However, in 2008, both parties signed a memorandum of understating returning the said lots to the Capitol. — (FREEMAN)