MANY informal settlers in urban centers are hardworking minimum wage earners who, with the correct avenues of support from government, are capable of making their lives better.

Saying this, the Ako Bisaya Partylist puts housing for the urban poor, especially for those living near waterways, as its top priority when elected into office.

Sonny Lagon, the partylist’s first nominee, said that the current thrust of relocation sites for informal settlers is to put them in faraway towns, which is why they resist being uprooted from the riverbanks, seashores, and other danger areas.

“The government has a hard time taking our urban poor away from the esteros because the proposed relocation sites are too far from their places of work. This is why you will never see them leave,” said Lagon.

What the partylist would do, according to Lagon, is to facilitate the condominium concept of socialized housing units for these settlers in the Metro areas so as not to put these residents far from their places of work or livelihood.

“Even if you give these people land but the location is remote, they would still go back to the esteros because of proximity to their means of livelihood,” said its second nominee, Vidal Villuaneva.

“The more practical way to address congestion of urban poor settlers in danger areas, then, is for government to devise and facilitate ways for them to be living near their places of work,” Villanueva added.

Ako Bisaya Partylist sees this as a solution not just for urban poor housing problems but also to the issue of clogged canals, flooding in riverbanks, and informal settlers’ vulnerability to fires.

The Ako Bisaya Partylist was created eight years ago on April 27, with the vision of better living conditions for the urban poor. (PR)