Faced with the possible interminable delay in the implementation of the fish processing plant, Dagupan City Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. decided to intervene personally.

Mayor Fernandez finally chaired the meeting of the Task Force on Housing and Urban Resettlement headed by City Engineer Virginia Rosario on Wednesday, where he clarified that the city hall’s official position is to relocate the residents, not to demolish the resident’s homes in Sitio Russia in Bonuan Binloc.

He made the clarification even as the Regional Trial Court suspended the hearing on the petition for injunction and temporary restraining order filed by residents against the city government.

The new definition of the task force’s role is in contrast to the move undertaken by the city government on August 8 when it sent a demolition team to Sitio Russia to demolish and remove the illegal structures in the area.

The affected residents strongly resisted and formed a human barricade to bar the demolition teams’ entry into their compound.

The residents, as the Sitio Russia Bonuan Binloc Neighborhood Association Inc., filed a complaint against Fernandez and Rosario with the regional trial court with a prayer for permanent injunction shortly after they succeeded in warding off the demolition team.

Last Tuesday, the city government and the residents finally had a face-off at the sala of Judge Genoveva Maramba of Branch 44 for their oral arguments and an agreement was reached that a settlement meeting he held between the two parties before another hearing would be scheduled.

The judge agreed to the proposal of City Legal Officer George Mejia for the city to maintain a status quo in Sitio Russia until after the relocation site is ready for occupancy, provided, however, that the petitioners withdraw their complaint and voluntarily transfer to the pinpointed relocation site.

The court also took cognizance of the promise of Fernandez to make the relocation site ready for occupancy, including other benefits as discussed with Atty. Anita Chauhan, regional director of the Commission on Human Rights, who was present at the court hearing.

The lawyer of the petitioners, Amando Laoagan, however contended that he has to t consult with his clients first and asked that he be given until last Friday to submit the necessary motion.

Relocation for the poor

During the hearing, Mejia told the court that the relocation site will be ready within 30 days, complete with public utilities, like running water among others, to the satisfaction of the complainants.

“The mayor does not want to see any of his constituents without a roof above their heads especially during this rainy season,” Mejia said

He also stressed that the houses at the relocation site in Gawad Kalinga Bangusville will be their own unlike their situation in sitio Russia where they could not hope to get a land title “not even in the next 100 years,”

Chauhan cautioned residents of Sitio Russia and advised them to police their own ranks and not to allow some rich influential people to use them for their own vested interests.

Under the law, she said, only the shelter-less and landless are entitled to relocation.

The archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan has sent a representative of the Serafica Law Office to help residents of Sitio Russia.

Its lawyer questioned the legal basis of Dagupan in asserting its right over the accreted land in Sitio Russia.

The residents earlier sought a relocation to the former Project Silungan in Bonuan Binloc but Rosario said that is still a public land and any relocation there would only be temporary. —LM

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments