THE local government, through the City Housing and Land Management Division (CHLMD), has recommended that all wooden footbridges built in the Zamboanga City Roadmap to Recovery and Reconstruction (Z3R) areas to be repaired and converted to concrete structures.
The Z3R areas are the five coastal villages namely, Mariki, Rio Hondo, Sta. Barbara, Sta. Catalina, and Kasanyangan that were severely affected during the 21-day 2013 Zamboanga siege.
The Z3R is the government blueprint for the rehabilitation of the areas affected during the Zamboanga siege.
CHLMD officer-in-charge Rodrigo Pagotaisidro said the recommendation has been forwarded to the National Housing Authority (NHA) and is awaiting approval of funding allocation.
Pagotaisidro said initial estimates show that Phase I of the concrete footbridge is worth P25 million or a total of P150 million for the six wooden-foot bridges that need immediate repair.
One of the wooden footbridge at Sitio Hongkong in Rio Hondo village collapsed on April 26, 2018 when Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar along with then Zamboanga City first district Representative Celso Lobregat, then Negros 3rd district Representative Albee Benitez and NHA officials passed to inspect houses-on-stilt projects for the Zamboanga siege victims.
They fell into murky water brought about by the incident.
At present, Pagotaisidro said they are conducting actual occupancy verification of the thousands of houses built under Z3R in a bid to determine if the occupants are still the original awardees or new occupants or illegal entrants in the area.
He said the verification will also determine if ownership of the housing units have been transferred to other families other than the original awardees. (Bong Garcia/SunStar Philippines)