Pasay to relocate squatters living in flood-prone areas

The Pasay City government yesterday announced that development activities are now underway in a barangay in Tanay, Rizal that will serve as a relocation site for nearly 2,000 families living in the city’s flood-prone areas.

Mayor Wenceslao “Peewee” Trinidad said the 10-hectare area can be divided into lots for around 1,800 informal settlers and their respective families.

He said residents living along “Estero Tripa de Galina” near the Tramo area, and “Gotamco” along F. B. Harrison Street will soon be transferred to the relocation site.

“There will actually be 1,800 lots available. Each family-beneficiary will have to pay P100 per square meter per month for 10 years, or equivalent to P1,000 yearly. They will already be the ones to take care of putting up structures,” Trinidad told reporters after a meeting with Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando.

He said that it would take around six to eight months to facilitate the transfer of the families in Barangay Sampiro.

Trinidad added that once the residents are settled in the area, the city government will help come up with livelihood opportunities for them like putting up stores and other small businesses.

The plan will reportedly be enforced in coordination with the MMDA since the agency’s chairman, Bayani Fernando, is also head of the Inter-Agency Task Force for Informal Settlers in Metro Manila.

Fernando said they will work together with other concerned agencies such as the Philippine Commission for the Urban Poor, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Health and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, to realize the task force’s objectives.

“We will serve as the clearing office where matters concerning informal settlers and their planned relocation would have to be finalized,” he added. – Rhodina Villanueva