Thursday, June 26, 2008 97 Sugbo houses face demolition on mayor’s order
CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has ordered the demolition of 97 of 136 structures at the Sugbo Homes housing site for government employees in Barangay Lahug as recommended by the Local Housing Board.
Vicente Mercado said the houses, owned by members of two homeowners’ associations, were not among those identified in the Sugbo Homes subdivision land data. Mercado serves as chief of the City Squatters Prevention, Encroachment Elimination Division (Speed).
The structures, he said, were also built in portions supposedly dedicated as open spaces.
Mercado said the mayor made the order this week in agreement to the housing board resolution.
After receiving the mayor’s communication, he said, the Speed will prepare the notices.
Upon receipt of the warning, the house owners are given seven days to volunteer to tear down their homes.
Aside from the Sugbo Homes houses, 15 illegal structures in Barangays Bacayan and Talamban are also set for demolition, he added.
The Speed started destroying yesterday 29 structures that encroached into and made narrower a road in Barangays Suba and Pasil.
Mercado said they will resume leveling the structures after the mayor issued the demolition order following complaints made by residents there.
He said they restored the 10-meter-wide road after complaints reached the City that other residents could no longer properly pass through the road.
The structures were also allegedly blamed for flooding in the area.
The demolition went on without too many hitches or threats from affected families.
Suba Barangay Captain Joel Sable said his affected constituents did not resist, knowing that they have indeed encroached into the road. (RHM)
