Seeking assistance at CH

A BARANGAY and urban poor representatives want the Cebu City Council to intervene in various issues. But Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) Chief Collin Rosell said sometimes it is best to go straight to the department concerned.

In the case of Barangay Luz, it passed a resolution urging the City, through the DWUP, to take immediate action on the “lamentable condition” of the families affected by a demolition last year.

The resolution was passed last Jan. 5. The barangay noted that the 32 families evicted from a private property have been living by the side of the road in Sitio Mabuhay since their houses were demolished last Oct. 8.

The court order only allowed them to stay there for 15 days.

Councilor Alvin Dizon was furnished a copy of the resolution and the councilor endorsed it to the council. During last Wednesday’s session, the resolution was referred to the DWUP.

Allegations

Rosell said communication for the DWUP can be submitted directly to the division.

He cited the letter of a certain Zorina Aniñon, a member of the Upper Stephenson Homeowners Association in Barangay Apas. She and several others were relocated to Barangay Budlaan.

In her handwritten letter to Dizon, Aniñon asked why they would have to pay another P1,500 to a surveyor when they already had the area surveyed.

“How many times do we need a survey?” Aniñon said in Cebuano.

Rosell said a survey can only be conducted if there’s a subdivision plan. However, the relocation site’s subdivision plan has not yet been approved.

As to the amount, he said the DWUP has nothing to do with that.

Rosell said that during a consultation, the DWUP told the beneficiaries of the relocation site to hire their own geodetic engineer to do the subdivision plan and survey. He said he told them a survey usually costs P1,500.

However, Aniñon said the geodetic engineer that was hired was the same one who conducted a survey in 2001, also for P1,500.

Denial

Aniñon also claimed that Rosell said their memorandum of agreement (MOA) was a “fake.”

“It can only be a fake if there is a true copy and then there is another copy, which can be considered fake. How can I say ‘fake’ when I haven’t seen the document? They are inventing an issue and they go directly to the council because they want to make an issue out of it,” said Rosell.

He told Sun.Star Cebu that what he said was that the document was only between the beneficiaries and the homeowners association. The lot is owned by the City Government and a binding contract would be between the City and the beneficiaries.

He said Aniñon should have approached DWUP instead of going through the council.

Linda Paracuelles of the Alliance of Barangay Apas Community Association wrote Dizon about the rampant cutting of trees in an area in Barangay Apas that was declared as a socialized housing site.

Illegal structures have also been built there, although there are no informal settlers yet. The area is also a provincial property.

The council referred Paracuelles’s letter to Acting Gov. Agnes Magpale and the DWUP.