QC to computerize list of informal settlers

The Quezon City government is set to computerize the master list of the city’s informal settlers to make sure that only legitimate ones benefit from the city’s low-cost housing program.

In a directive to the Urban Poor Affairs Office (UPAO), Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr., said the computerization of the list of the more than 300,000 urban poor families would also hasten the implementation of the poverty alleviation program of the city government.

Under the said program, legitimate urban poor families will be given the opportunity to own the land they have been occupying through a direct sale scheme known as the Community Mortgage Program.

This developed as Belmonte ordered the Central Police District to coordinate with barangay officials in identifying and dismantling a professional squatting syndicate operating in the city.

The mayor also mobilized concerned local government officers to prevent would-be settlers from entering the city while the city government is still finalizing various relocation sites for the legitimate settlers in the city.

The city government has identified at least 20 possible relocation sites for homeless urban poor families in the city, including properties in Bagong Silangan and Payatas, Sito Sto. Niño in Fairview, Tawid Sapa, Sito Pajo, Pagkakaisa in Visayas Avenue and Barangay Balingasa.

Ramon Asper, head of the UPAO, said there was an immediate need for the relocation of more than 5,000 families living near esteros, creeks and other danger zone areas in the city.

"The lives of these families are constantly exposed to danger," Asper said.