Informal settler families living in danger areas in Quezon City are now resettled safely in SOUTHVILLE 8, San Isidro, Rodriguez, Rizal. As of July 7, 2011, a total of 1,836 families have been helped to move out of danger areas in 19 parts of Quezon City, to be resettled in their new homes here in Southville 8.
Some of them were victims of Typhoon Ondoy, many of them were living dangerously along creeks or riverways, some even on silted soil right on top of waterways. Quezon City Mayor Bautista directed his officials to work to make sute that they move to safer areas soon, before another calamity strikes.
Housing and resettlement is the Mayor’s priority, along with disaster-risk mitigation. These twin aims provided impetus for his Administration’s strong push to resettle indigents living in precarious surrounding, which include Bagong Silangan, those living along Tullahan Creek, in soil mounds in Damayang Lagi, and along Culiat Creek.
The resettled families also include those displaced in 6th and 7th street, Barangay Mariana, who were literally living in the streets, when the property owner claimed back his land.
Southville 8 is a housing project of the National Housing Authority. The city’s Socialized Housing Task Force headed by the Secretary to the Mayor Tadeo Palma, and the Urban Poor Affairs Office headed by Ramon Asprer, have been working tirelessly, with the help of the Social Services development Office and COPRISS, to help the resettlement become as easy as possible for the families.
To make sure that their basic needs are met, the Mayor even committed to paying for the sub-electric meters of Quezon City’s relocates, a problem that usually delays the energization of socialized housing communities. Today, at flag raising ceremonies at Quezon City Hall, 1,500 families received their submeters, through their block leaders and barangay officials. This will make sure that their homes have legal electrical connections.
Once Meralco has energized their homes, these 1,500 submeters will be used for the next set of resettled families, and so on. This means that the local government’s investment of P1,000 for each submeter will continuously be rolled over to benefit a large number of its resettlers.
Bautista vowed that the City government will continue to work for the resettlement of more families. He cited the reports that there are 8,000 more who need immediate resettlement to safer grounds. He called on more partners to help defray the huge investement requirements. Thus far, the local government has signed Memoranda of Agreements with Habitat for Humanity, Gawad Kalinga and the Pag-ibig Fund, for assistance in housing construction. The City council has along assisted in creating new revenue sources for housing, through the socialized housing tax. Recently, the LGU imposed the idle land tax for the same purpose. Maureen Quiñones, PAISO
