Manila speeds up land allocation

Although its is now the height of the campaign season, Manila Mayor Lito Atienza still makes sure that the city government continues to attend to the needs of the city’s constituents.

Atienza distributed yesterday Certificates of Eligibility for Lot Allocation (CELA) to 217 families at the Peter Paul Compound in Barangay 836 in Pandacan. The beneficiaries who received their certificates of lot allocation today comprise the first batch of 418 families who have been allocated the lots in a 4.4-hectare property where their homes are suited. Minus the area for roads, the net land area of the property amounts to about 2.8 hectares.

Last March 23, 2004, Atienza also distributed certificates of lot allocation to 427 families at the Bataan-Cordillera-Bagumbayan area in Sta. Mesa located beside the old railroad track. The property measuring some 1.8 hectares was subdivided among the beneficiaries, which means each family would have an average of 40 square meters.

The property was turned over by the Philippine National Railways as partial payment of a debt that it owes to the city government. Other PNR properties located at Paco, Tondo and Sta. Cruz have been turned over to the city government. Qualified residents in the said areas would also be issued certificates of lot allocation.

The beneficiaries, some of whom have been living in the said areas for 40 years, would have 25 years to pay for the land that had been or would be were awarded to them at very affordable rates.

The awarding of the certificates of eligibility for lot allocation is part of the housing component of Atienza’s Buhayin ang Maynila program and also in support of President Arroyo’s Land for the Landless program.

The city government, through the Urban Settlements Office and the City Legal Office, has also been helping out long-time tenants acquire the land that they have been renting through negotiation with the property owners or through expropriation proceedings.

Aside from this, the Atienza administration, with the help of the national government and non-government organizations such as the Gawad Kalinga of the Couples for Christ and the Habitat for Humanity, has also provided residents in Baseco Compound in Tondo, now renamed Bagong Buhay Village, their own homes.

Housing projects for middle-income families in Manila such as the UN Gardens near the corner of Otis and United Nations Avenue, the Residencias de Manila at Pandacan, the Cristobal Housing and the Dagupan Housing complex in Tondo have also been undertaken.