Division for the Welfare of Urban Poor to review list of fire victims

CEBU, Philippines- The Cebu City Division for the Welfare of Urban Poor will revisit the official list of fire victims in Barangay San Roque to determine who are qualified to avail of the socialized housing program before they will be allowed to start rebuilding their houses.

Lawyer Collin Rosell, DWUP chief, said all underlying issues will have to be resolved first before any rebuilding can start. Rosell said these issues have caused the delay in the rebuilding of residential houses, the reason why at least 64 families remain in tents a year after they were hit by fire.

 “We have to finalize the listing first. We have to compile the listing done by the barangay officials before and also to check the files we have in our office. We will have to confer on both listings and determine if there are inconsistencies,” said Rosell.

“In this way, we will be able to clarify the issues and reconcile for the official listing of the beneficiaries. But based on principle, we will stick to our original list since it is not tainted with any subjective criteria,” he added.

Some barangay residents claimed that changes were made in the list of beneficiaries causing delay in the rebuilding.

The late Barangay Captain Liodore Miranda was accused of choosing his own set of beneficiaries for lot allocation, which led some 30 families to complain. The families used to occupy the road and areas along creek.

Rosell admitted that the delay in the rebuilding of the houses was caused by the “controversies” hurled against the late barangay captain.

“We don’t have to do some finger pointing at this time. As soon as we have settled the official list and addressed the concerns of the affected families, then we can move forward and do the right steps then,” said Rosell.

Rosell said that the 30 families who used to occupy the areas near the creek and on the road will be given relocation at the socialized housing sites of the city such as in Barangays Binaliw and Pit-os.

“They cannot be accommodated already in that area, we cannot allow them to go back on where they were previously situated,” Rosell said.

Rosell said the 72 families, including the 64 in tents, will be allotted 12-square meter each where they can rebuild their houses.

The city government, through the Department of Social Welfare and Services, will provide housing materials.

He assured that the controversies will be settled as quickly as possible to fast track the process of rebuilding the houses since some of the families are still living under the tents.

Over 360 families were displaced on August 9, 2014 after a huge fire hit the residential area along Palma Street in Barangay San Roque.  (FREEMAN)