Third-year anniversary of Yolanda: Survivors protest vs danger zones

CEBU, Philippines - Super typhoon Yolanda survivors in northern Cebu yesterday held a picket rally at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-7 office in Cebu City to oppose the “no dwelling zone” policy pushed by the previous administration, asking the government to junk such policy that they said stifles their livelihood.

This, as Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III also said yesterday, the exactly three years after the super typhoon struck, Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III said he will request the Commission on Audit to relax or waive its regulations over the acquisition of non-titled lots for Yolanda relocation sites, especially in Bantayan and Camotes Islands.

“(I) will try to convince COA na i-waive lang ang requirement in light with the urgent need for housing,” he said.

The governor said relocation efforts of the government have been affected, considering that most of the lots in the said islands do not have titles.

The lands in Bantayan and Camotes islands are not covered with titles because they were declared as “wilderness area” and “mangrove swamp forest reserves”, respectively.

“The land has to be titled. That’s the requirement. Lisod man ang magpatitulo kay protected area man. Mao na nagproblema ang National Housing Authority. Strict man sa requirements ang COA,” he said, adding that NHA should also exert efforts to fast-track the housing projects.

The government bureaucracy is among the factors contributing to the slow recovery of Yolanda-ravaged areas in Cebu province.

This has created setbacks for the completion of the NHA’s housing project in Bantayan Island in northern Cebu. The agency was tasked by the national government to provide permanent housing for affected families on the no-build zone areas, as certified by DENR.

So far, only 450 out of the 3,500 houses that the NHA was supposed to build have been completed.

 Bantayan Mayor Arthur Despi expressed a similar predicament.

He earlier said construction of houses is snail-paced because of regulatory and bureaucratic factors. He cited, for example, that the NHA can only build houses on titled or donated lots.

This is a problem, he said, because most of the lots in the island do not have titles.

“Ang gobiyerno dili man mo-transact og tax declaration lang. Kinahanglan man titulado. Limitado man ang yuta nga titulado, kadtong mga karaan lang tungod na sa atong pagka-wilderness. The relocation site is based on where you can find a titled land” he said.

Despi said if these problems won’t be addressed immediately, the funding for the housing projects will be reverted back to the general fund, which is likely to happen if the money remains idle.

Davide recalled that Senator Panfilo Lacson, former Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery, also made the request but nothing materialized.

He said, though, that families should not be allowed to build houses within the 20-meter easement zone. “We should be strict in enforcing that to prevent the loss of life.”

In Cebu, it was the northern part of the province that experienced the worst of Yolanda’s wrath. A total of 14 local government units were devastated by the super typhoon.

Yesterday morning, a number of Yolanda survivors, mostly fishermen, held a protest rally in front of DENR-7 to oppose the policy Davide wanted strictly enforced.

Bayan – Central Visayas Chairperson Jaime Paglinawan, who supported the protesters, told THE FREEMAN that the Panaghiusa sa Gagmayng Mananagat sa Sugbo submitted a letter to DENR-7 office to register their position against Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2014-01.

He said the circular threatens to clear the homes of Yolanda survivors, especially those living near the so-called “hazard zones”, which are identified as susceptible to natural hazards, such as flooding, landslides, and storm surges.

Paglinawan understood that the government imposed this precautionary measure to ensure the safety and security of northern Cebu residents, but he pointed out that affected residents would be placed away from their source of livelihood such as the sea.

He said the government would rather remove the survivors from their homes and source of livelihood instead of assisting them recover from the tragedy.  (FREEMAN)