Tuesday, October 03, 2006 CPA gets funds for squatter relocation
THE Cebu Port Authority (CPA) is taking the opportunity given by a private firm to relocate squatters in the port area.
Dennis Villamor, CPA deputy general manager, said the agency will allocate some P2 million to P3 million as the agency’s contribution to Cebu City Hall’s move to relocate squatters in the North Reclamation Area (NRA) in preparation for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in December.
Earlier, SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SM) vice president for marketing Marissa Fernan asked City Hall to set aside part of the amount paid by SM for its 2007 taxes for the relocation of illegal settlers and vendors in the vicinity of the mall. Squatters
In an interview, CPA’s Villamor said the problem of relocating some 500 squatter-families in the port area has been one of CPA’s concerns.
The CPA has long been planning to remove the illegal occupants to speed up economic development at the Cebu ports and its adjacent private lots.
“This is our chance to solve this problem,” he said.
In a report, CPA Commissioner Carlos Co said the first to go will be those residing along the sidewalks of Baclig St., which is adjacent to Sergio Osmena St., and along T. Padilla St. up to the boundary of Mandaue City.
Meanwhile, Villamor said the CPA already has a space for the fumigation facility that will be used by exporters to free their products of pests.
Fumigation
Earlier, Australia has refused to accept shipments from Cebu after the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (Aqis) found a giant African Snail (GAS) in one of the shipments from Cebu in 2004
Exporters had to spend more since they had to ship their products to Manila first.
Cebu has been de-listed from Aqis’s list of GAS-risk countries just this year.
Villamor said the port is willing to allocate space for the fumigation facility as long as this does not interfere with the other operations of the port.
“We have no choice but to make our port free from contamination,” he said. (JBN)
