Talisay bans Cebu City squatters

CEBU — After Mayor Tomas Osmeña drove away Talisay City residents from Cebu City’s public markets, Talisay City is now poised to reject squatter families from Cebu City seeking relocation in Talisay.

Talisay City Vice Mayor Aberdovey Belleza questioned last week a housing project being set up in Barangay Dumlog by the Bethlehem Day Care Center Foundation when he learned that the community was accommodating more families from Cebu City than those from Talisay City.

No less than Cebu archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, Rep. Eduardo Gullas of the first district to where Talisay City belongs, and Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, have expressed supporty for the project.

But of the intended 360 beneficiary families under the program, only 150 have been found to be from Talisay City. The rest are from Cebu City.

In last Thursday’s council session in Talisay City, the councilors unanimously agreed to table the proposed resolution until after the council can invite Fr. Iacono to appear before the body and answer some questions, particularly on how to screen the beneficiaries to determine if they are truly Talisay City’s urban poor or are in fact displaced squatters from Cebu City.

"We don’t want Talisay City to become the dumping ground of displaced squatter families. Talisay City has its own squatters, so they should be given priority, not outsiders," Belleza said.

Belleza said the project is not the only cause for his concern. He claims that there are in fact many squatter families from Cebu City who are seeking and have made Talisay City their new home.

The neighboring cities have been at odds ever since Gullas, then mayor of Talisay City, laid claim to 54 hectares of the the 295-hectare south reclamation project of Cebu City, saying that it was the size of the land area of Talisay City that the project encroached upon. — Gary Lao/Freeman News Service