ALMOST 300 families who were victims of the Tipolo fire incident last year and who were temporarily allowed to occupy the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) grounds were given until Jan. 31, 2020 to vacate.
Failure to move out means that the Mandaue City Government would demolish their structures in preparation for a development project in the property.
The 282 families represented those who, out of the total 1,000 families at the CICC grounds, were renters or members of extended families.
The Mandaue City Housing and Urban Development Office has circulated a notice for them to vacate or their structures would be demolished.
Vincent Guy Aquino, housing office project coordinator, said they circulated a notice to the 282 families to voluntarily vacate on or before the deadline. As to where the families would transfer, Aquino said he could not give them any advice but they should have already looked for a site. They were granted financial assistance to do so last September, and the area in Tipolo that got burned is privately owned.
As early as last September, he said, when these families were given financial assistance, they were told to look for their own relocation sites. Fire victims received P10,000 per family for the structure owners and P5,000 per family for renters.
The rest of the families who remain in the CICC grounds would also be told to vacate on another date. They include another 288 families from the Mantuyong-Guizo fire in 2016 who will be relocated to the housing project in Baranagy Casili. Those who owned houses in Tipolo would not be able to return to their lots and would be relocated to another site still being worked on by City Hall.
Elisa Estrera, one of the fire victims ordered to vacate, pleaded to authorities to allow them to stay at least until April when the schoolyear will end so as not to affect her children’s schooling.
The order to clear out the CICC grounds came as the City Government plans to develop the area. Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes is expected to pursue talks on the joint venture agreement of the City with the Millennium Pan-Asia & Resort Inc.
The partnership of Mandaue City and Millennium was signed by then Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing.
Cortes agreed with the Millennium pact to develop the property into a mixed-use commercial building but he wants included in the agreement an intermodal transport terminal. The mayor also considered the employment potential of such a development as many Mandaue residents could benefit. / KFD