Fire victims to stay at old site

THE 109 affected families, who were affected by the February 23’s fire at Sitio Sinikway, Barangay Tabucan in Mandurriao District, will have to stay at the old site by the end of April or May.

The owner of the lot that was razed by the fire is amenable to the request of the Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog to allow the fire victims to stay in their temporary shelter at the site pending their transfer to the City Government-owned Lanit relocation site.

The City Government of Iloilo, meanwhile, is still processing the financial assistance to the affected families.

Mabilog said the financial assistance include P5,000 each family for the 105 destroyed houses and P2,500 each family for four damaged houses to be given within this month.

The National Housing Authority (NHA) is building the second batch of 100 houses for the Tabucan fire victims, who are also identified as informal settlers along the tributary of the Iloilo River.

Mabilog said the fire victims are priority batch due to the fire incident.

Mabilog added that Senator Franklin Drilon has assured P7-million assistance for the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) to extend its water services immediately to the Lanit site.

The National Government has allocated a total of P300 million, while the City Government gave P44 million for the relocation sites in Lanit and at Barangay Sooc, Arevalo for 3,000-informal settlers.