EVEN if it’s a holiday, the Cebu City Council will hold a special session on Tuesday morning, Dec. 24, 2019, to pass a resolution declaring Sitio Lourdes in Barangay Inayawan under a state of calamity.
Vice Mayor Michael Rama called for the special session on Mayor Edgardo Labella’s order so the City could use its calamity funds to help the families who lost their homes to a fire that struck the area on Friday, Dec. 20.
A total of 102 families, or 300 individuals, lost their homes in the fire.
City officials wanted to hold the session Tuesday to beat the closing of the City Government’s book of accounts at the end of the year.
With the declaration, the City will be able to give P20,000 each to homeowners, housing materials and packed meals to survivors.
Majority of the affected families are staying in the barangay sports complex and will spend Christmas there.
Aside from the assistance from City Hall, the fire survivors have also received aid from the National Housing Authority, the Department of Social Welfare and Services and Sen. Christopher Go.
Earlier, Labella assured the affected families they would be able to return to the lots they occupied, saying he would not allow fire incidents to be used as a reason for lot owners to evict occupants. (PAC, LRC)