Mayor pleads for time for evacuees
Friday, March 19, 2010
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LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- Mayor Artemio Galwan will ask the Benguet State University (BSU) to extend the stay of Typhoon Pepeng evacuees living in its property in the Strawberry Fields.
Galwan said the BSU Board of Regents has yet to make a formal decision on the 3.3-hectare Tawang lot eyed as a permanent relocation site for those rendered homeless by the super storm.
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Earlier, BSU gave evacuees until the end of the month to vacate the area.
The BSU grounds at the Strawberry Fields is a temporary home to around 31 families from the original 43 shelter boxes set up November last year.
BSU president Rogelio Colting said the Board of Regents has sat down and talked about the Tawang relocation site but did not divulge any decision.
The BSU board is assumed to have discussed how to award the land to the victims, but stressed a committee has to be formed to create guidelines before the land is given to the homeless.
Galwan said if the board decides to award the property to the municipality, a proclamation order from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a must.
Paper work for such an order will take time.
The 3.3-hectare property at Tawang has been identified by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as the best site for relocation based on safety standards.
Colting earlier said the state university is also amenable to a swap deal for the site eyeing a property in the sitio Little Kibungan in exchange for the Tawang lot. (Maria Elena Catajan)
