Mandaue eyes reblocking Mantuyong, Guizo fire area

CEBU, Philippines - The more than 2,000 families that were left homeless because of the huge fire in Mandaue City last Saturday will have to wait until the reblocking is done before the city government will allow them to rebuild their houses.

Tonypet Juanico, chief of Mandaue City Housing Urban Development Office, said the city government will undertake the reblocking before the fire victims will be allowed to go back in the area.

Juanico said the city engineers will start the assessment today on how to go about the reblocking.

“I-demolish gyud ang mga structure kay patagon man na. Unya butangan na og mga filling materials then we will start the reblocking,” Juanico said.

Some of the fire victims, however, may not be able to rebuild their houses because they were occupying a private property.Businessman Richard Ng,  through lawyer Conchito Germino, has already wrote a letter to Guizo Barangay Captain Jesus Neri that he is not allowing the fire victims to reoccupy his property.

 “I would like to request for tanod assistance so that the houses of the squatters of said land which were unfortunately burned will not be reconstructed by the squatters. We humbly appeal to your sense of duty and obligation as the father of barangay,” the letter read.

Neri said he will try his best that the affected families will be given a space in the area subject of the reblocking by the city government.

Felix Suico, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, said the fire victims have already agreed to the reblocking.

 “Nag-meeting na with the families. Okay man sila, no violent reaction,” Suico said.

According to Suico, the affected families will have to stay at the temporary shelter outside the Cebu International Convention Center while the reblocking is being done.

He urged all the families to be at the CICC grounds for them to receive assistance from the city government.

There were 2,887 individuals listed as victims from Barangay Guizo; 793 were identified houseowners; renters-179; sharers-18. In Barangay Mantuyong, there were 3,874 individuals; 985 homeowners, 222 renters, and 38 sharers.

Suico said each of the house owners will get P10,000 assistance from the city government while P5,000 each for both renters and sharers.

He, however, admitted that the city government may have a problem sourcing out funds for financial assistance because of the election ban.

“Ang problema ani ron kay election ban, di makapagawas og fund,” he said.

Suico said the city government will use the DRRMO’s Quick Response Fund but only a limited number of beneficiaries can avail. He said the DRRMO’s QRF this year is only P110 million.

Fear for dengue

Meanwhile, Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes has ordered to keep the evacuation area clean to prevent the fire victims from getting dengue.

“Mayor Jonas’ order is to focus on sanitation. Daghan cases sa dengue after the 2007 fire,” said city spokesperson Roger Paler.

Paler said it was the third time that the area was hit by fire since 1997. — (FREEMAN)