AT LEAST 176 families in Barangay 31 have no homes to return to after a writ of demolition was finally served Tuesday, November 15.
The implementation of the writ of demolition had been moved five times from its original schedule last year.
The families, however, refused to transfer to the evacuation center that the City Government provided in Pagatpat village.
Cagayan de Oro City Administrator Dionnie Gersana said the covered court and food for the residents were already prepared, but no one expressed their intent to transfer.
Gersana said the City Government has 40 lots ready to provide for the residents displaced in disasters and demolitions but for the case of Barangay 31, none of the residents availed the lot.
“They want money para daw mag-renta lang sila, but sa among nakita, wala man pud silay marentahan karon, ang amo lang unta nga temporaryo lang sila sa Pagatpat while mangita pa kita ug pamaagi nga makakita ug lain nga luna para ilang mapuy-an permanently (They want money so they can just rent, but from what we could see, there’s nowhere they can rent now, we just want them to live temporarily in Pagatpat while we’re searching for ways to find other land where they can live permanently),” Gersana said.
Vienny Bague, one of the displaced residents, said one of the reasons why they refuse to transfer to the evacuation center, is because of the classes of their children.
“Madisturbo ilahang pag-eskwela kay layo baya na, maayo pa nalang kung diri na lamang mi (Their schooling will be disturbed because the place is far, its better if we stay here),” she said.
Had the previous City Council allocated a budget for the shelter plan, Gersana said this would not happen, saying “lots would have been ready for situations like this.”
“Now we have the money pero ang problema lang i-process napud kay yuta baya na, muagi pa og appraisal, so madugay pa gayud, but the budget is already available through the approval of the supplemental budget (Now we have the money but the problem is it will be processed again since its land, it will go through appraisal, so it will take long, but the budget is already available through the approval of the supplemental budget),” he said.
Gersana also admitted they have not expected the implementation of the demolition Tuesday, saying they were confident that the City Council resolution asking for more time would extend the demolition.
The City Council has earlier passed a resolution asking two courts in Cagayan de Oro to postpone the looming demolition to, instead, implement it on March 2017, which marks the end of classes.
The resolution was addressed to Judge Eleuteria Algodon of Municipal Trial Court in Cities Branch 2 who holds the Barangay 31 case and Judge Gil Bollozos of Regional Trial Court Branch 21 for Barangay 36.
But Gersana said the court has not denied nor approved the council resolution.
“This took us by surprise kay wala man gud action gayud sa korte (This took us by surprise since there was no action from the court),” Gersana said.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Fernando Loncion said the demolition was peaceful.
“Ang reklamo lang nila nganu daw giapil namo ug demolish ang mga balay nga naa sa government property. Pero ang government property mao kanang ninglapas sa dalan, and order man sa City Government nga apilon tanan (Their only complaint was why they demolished the houses under government property. But the government property was the one that went over the street, and the order of the City Government was to include everything),” he said.
The City Social Welfare and Development Office sent in food assistance to the displaced residents.