Monday, January 29, 2007 Apas folk hit housing agencies
THE Apas Barangay Community Association Inc. (Abacai) is lambasting the National Housing Authority (NHA), Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Presidential Commission on Urban Poor (PCUP) for being remiss in their jobs.
As a result, their area is full of illegal residents.
Some 1,200 Abacai members occupy 23 hectares of a military reservation at the Camp Lapu-Lapu in Barangay Apas, Cebu City.
Abacai is an umbrella organizations of the Retired and Active Military Community Association Inc., Mahayahay Residents Association Inc., Sito Plaza Homeowners Association Inc., Upper Panabang Community Association Inc., Rotunda Community Association Inc., Barnagay Apas Community Association Lot 950, Barangay Apas Community Association Lot 1035 and Barangay Apas Community Association Lot 1180.
Decades
Abacai board secretary Joy Cachero said her family arrived in the area decades ago since her father was a soldier assigned at the Camp Lapu-Lapu.
She said President Arroyo issued Presidential Proclamation 409, allowing them to own the land they occupy. This was supported by Cebu City Ordinance 1764, declaring the site as a socialized housing area within the city.
To implement the law, HUDCC was tasked as administrator to divide and distribute the land to the occupants. PCUP’s role was to monitor the progress, while it was the NHA’s job to verify the authenticity of the list of beneficiaries and conduct the survey.
The role of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources was to review the survey and issue land titles.
Beneficiaries
Cachero said that originally, they planned to contribute P100 each for the survey of the lots to be distributed to them as beneficiaries.
However, Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north) donated P1 million to defray the expenses. The amount was received by NHA, but it has yet to present the result of the survey.
Cachero added that hundreds of families, including those of soldiers who are assigned as far as Samar Province, began building houses in the area, in violation of the Urban Development and Housing Act.
Abacai president Marlene Paracueles said the NHA, HUDCC and PCUP, as well as the Local Inter-Agency Committee created by Mayor Tomas Osmeña and headed by City Administrator Bimbo Fernandez, failed to stop the newcomers, who are not in the list of beneficiaries.
Cachero said their position as beneficiaries has become complicated because new families who appear to have the backing of influential people continue to arrive and build houses in the area.
The Cebu Provincial Government want to take back the lots which it donated to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for use as a military reservation.
The condition for the donation was that the AFP must return the property to the Capitol if the area is no longer used as a military reservation.
According to provincial officials, the presence of residential houses indicates that the area is no longer a military facility. (EOB)
