CEBU, Philippines - The families affected by the impending demolition in Barangay Luz alleged that the beneficiaries who assumed their lots are no homeless families at all.
A list submitted last week by the affected residents to Collin Rossel, chief of the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor, shows that some of those who assumed their lots are owners of properties outside Barangay Luz.
The list includes the daughter of former DWUP employee who is now president of one of the Home Owners Associations. Rossel said a policeman was also among those who obtained a lot in the area.
This list of new beneficiaries contain the names of those that the Homeowners Associations in sitios Mabuhay, Lubi and Nangka accommodated in place of the affected residents after the court ruled in favor of the HOAs, the Provincial Government and the rest of the respondents of an eviction case.
The court already ordered their demolition, but it was deferred pending the decision of the City Government on the residents’ appeal to the city to expropriate the lots or purchase the same from the new beneficiaries.
Rossel said that during the last hearing with the Judge, the lawyer representing the HOAs promised that the list of beneficiaries will be submitted to DWUP before August 8 so they can start the negotiation. The negotiation will be between the affected residents and the new beneficiaries.
Rossel said they will try to negotiate with the new beneficiaries first to wave their rights and sell back the properties to the original beneficiaries before proceeding with the expropriation.
But Rossel said the HOAs failed to provide the list before the original residents did.
If allegations of the original beneficiaries were true, the HOAs have some serious matters to explain, Rossel said.
“Kay ngano gud tawon gi-allow nila nga maka-benefit and dili diay homeless and underprivileged? Di man na pwede (Why did they allow the non-homeless and those who are not underprivileged to benefit. That is not allowed),” he said.
Rossel said that the city government stands by its position for an on-site relocation for the residents. “We don’t want them to be displaced. These people have been there for many decades,” he said.
Last week, the residents even showed their tax declarations to prove that they are the original beneficiaries and that they have been paying taxes for the lot since 1950’s.
The affected residents were relocated in Barangay Luz during the time of Sergio Osmeña, Jr. when they were displaced by the reclamation project.
They refused to pay their lots through the Community Mortgage Program facilitated by the HOAs because they want to pay directly to the Provincial Government.
This conflict led to the decades-old case.
The affected residents who met with Mayor Michael Rama last week hopes to get the commitment of the Mayor to allow the city to purchase the lots from the new beneficiaries and let them pay to the city government.
The mayor has directed the DWUP to work closely on the matter and exhaust all legal remedies to help the residents. - THE FREEMAN