THE City Health Office (CHO) has withheld its recommendation for the issuance of occupancy permits for the housing projects under the Zamboanga City Roadmap to Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (Z3R) due to lack or non-compliance with sanitation facilities.
Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said the bulk of requirements for occupancy permits for Z3R housing units lie with the CHO, particularly the requirement for sanitation in compliance with the building code.
“We are very concerned about the dignified return of our IDPs (internally displaced persons) to their permanent homes,” she said.
She lamented that some of the IDPs mostly Badjaos have different views on sanitation that they mistook the “Kotek,” a plastic brand of septic tanks, for water containers.
City Health Officer Rodelin Agbulos further explained that some houses-on-stilts already had the Kotek installed.
But Agbulos noted that most Badjao occupants converted it as water containers as they prefer their own way of discharging human waste (defecate) that is straight to the water. (Bong Garcia/SunStar Philippines)