Tuesday, September 16, 2008 Comval guv scoffs off payment for Masara houses
PAYING for the houses of residents of Barangay Masara in Maco, Compostela Valley for them to finally up and leave is "ridiculous", Compostela Valley Governor Arturo Uy said.
Calling the residents as "opportunists", Uy said the P300,000 payment asked by two Masara residents for their houses is uncalled for. He said the government is only looking after the welfare of the people, thus should not be taken advantage by some people.
Informed of the adamant stand of some residents never to leave their homes unless they are paid by the government, Uy said he will have to refer first their case to the legal department for appropriate actions.
Uy said what they are doing now is looking for relocation sites of the 253 families affected by the September 6 and 7 landslides. He said they have found one in nearby Barangay Kinuban as possible site for relocation.
Eastern Mindanao Command chief Armano Cunanan meanwhile appealed to the few remaining residents in Masara to leave their homes since the danger of more landslides is still highly possible.
"Life does not end in Masara. It might be an opportunity for them to have better life in more progressive barangays," Cunanan said.
The military, he said, will just support whatever the local government decides. Aside from Masara, the government is also eyeing a forcible evacuation in the nearby Barangay Mainit.
Cristina Asis, 54 years old, said they could not leave their home in Masara as well as their livelihood. She said they have no money to buy for a new house and lot as she had already invested her lifetime savings in her house in Masara.
Asis lives with three other relatives and tends a small sari-sari store as their only source of income. Told of the possibility that she would probably run of out of customer eventually, if all of the about 50 remaining residents decide to move out, Asis said she doesn't mind and insisted that she will still die of hunger if she would get out of Masara, thus might as well die in her home.
Consuelo Adriasola, a retired public teacher, also refused to leave her home in Masara along with her husband for the same reason -- they have nowhere to go.
Adriasola said they have also invested their retirement pay to their house and since they have no children to go to, they decided to stay on despite the warning of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) that their barangay is highly vulnerable to landslides.
A few shops are still open in Masara when Sun.Star Davao visited the place Saturday, exactly one week after the first landslide hit the barangay on September 6.
One storeowner said he and his family will also stay in the area since he could not just leave his more than P2 million pesos investment in his house and store. (BOT)
