Tuesday, October 28, 2008 Dakit residents continue to refuse leaving homes
DESPITE the danger, a few Dakit, Guadalupe, Cebu City residents have refused to vacate their homes, asking that they instead be provided with tents set up in a nearby elevation where they could evacuate every time it rains.
One reason is that the relocation site in Sitio Mahayahay is also just a temporary area provided for by Landco Pacific Corp. and that they still face the prospect of being evicted in five to 10 years.
Guadalupe Barangay Captain Eugenio Faelnar, on the other hand, said the barangay had just approved a fencing permit application by a private property owner that if implemented could seal off the path leading to Dakit.
Location
Faelnar said it was a legitimate request by a lot owner exercising his right over his property.
He said they would know in the next few days if the fencing permit refers to the same location where the homes of the affected residents are located and if the owner would still open a path for the Dakit residents.
Faelnar said Landco officials told him the Mahayahay lot would still be developed later on and that the transferred Dakit residents would have to be relocated to Barangay Sapangdaku.
“Mao sad na ang ilang gidili-an kay dili man na mao nay papuy-an sa taga Landco nila, temporaryo ra man, pero dugay, mga five to 10 years, samtang naa pa ang Landco management diha (That’s also the reason they don’t want to stay there because it’s only temporary),” he said.
Government
Faelnar said he will have to inform the City Government of the request for a tent, adding that Guadalupe officials are merely implementing the order of Acting Mayor Michael Rama, who wanted 16 families to leave because their homes are built on a natural waterway.
Invited by the City Council last week, Maria Elena Lupo, Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau (MGB) 7 senior geologist, told city officials that immediate relocation of the residents should be implemented and that the area should be designated as a “non-residential zone.”
She said that after the MGB investigated the April 14 and Oct. 14 flooding in Dakit, it found the area to be a “natural waterway.”
Dakit, she said, is located at the bottom-most portion of a basin-like configuration so that the area is flooded by surface water runoff when it rains.
Lupon said the situation is “aggravated” by earth-moving works uphill at the Monterrazas de Cebu project implemented by Landco.
Yesterday, City Councilor Gerardo Carillo and members of the City Disaster Coordinating Council agreed in a meeting to gather the residents in a meeting with City, Guadalupe, and Landco officials tomorrow night.
Rama, he said, will be there to explain to the residents the need for them to leave the place. The residents, he said, could also air their concerns during the said meeting.
The City has already set up tents in Mahayahay and provided amenities like water, electricity, and portable toilet. (RHM)
