Monday, July 19, 2004 Family claims Sambag 2 NHA housing lot By LINETTE C. RAMOS Sun.Star Staff Reporter
CLOSE to 800 families in Barangay Sambag 2, Cebu City have yet to acquire the lots they have been negotiating to get since 1989 through a socializing housing project of the National Housing Authority (NHA).
And now that NHA is about to award the lots to the homeowners, their chances of acquiring it are threatened after a family claimed ownership of the six-hectare property.
NHA Regional Director Gavino Figuracion said they are already evaluating how the price of the lots will be computed, after which, they will be ready to award the certificate of land title to the home-owners’ association.
The beneficiaries of the housing project are the current occupants of the lot surrounding the TB Pavillion on B. Rodriguez Ext.
Easier distribution
Figuracion said that since the ownership of the property has already been transferred from the Department of Health (DOH) to the NHA, the distribution of the lots will be easier.
“We can start processing the certificates as soon as we find out how much the lot would cost because this would appear in the contract. The homeowners would also have to assess if they can afford the lots,” he told Sun.Star.
The homeowners will be paying NHA for the lots for 30 years.
At the site yesterday, homeowners were uncertain whether or not the lots can be awarded anytime soon because of other parties claiming ownership of the property.
Elizabeth Paayas, secretary of the Katilingbanong Kabos nga Lupyong Nagkahiusa (KKALUNAS) said that some of their members received threats that their houses will be demolished if they continue to stay in the property.
She added that some members lost interest in pursuing their claim as beneficiaries of the onsite relocation project because they fear that they will be evicted.
Threats
“With or without the other members, we will push through in asking for our claims this August. Things would be easier if we keep this a community effort but apparently, some members gave in to the threats of those who claim to own the land,” Paayas said.
(Sun.Star is withholding the name of the family who claimed ownership of the property because they could not be reached for comment yesterday.)
KKALUNAS members agreed to file by August their request for the certificate of lot allocation with the Cebu City Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor.
Ownership of the lot will still be under the name of the NHA until the homeowners sign the conditional contract to sell.
The titles will remain with the NHA until the homeowners can give complete payment for their lots, Figuracion said.
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