Mindanaotoday.com | Cagayan de Oro relocation for ‘Typhoon Sendong’ victims in 2011 remains unfinished
By: Franck Dick Rosete
After some of the damaged housing units in the relocation site in Sitio Pahiron, Barangay Lumbia, were exposed, a legislator in this city also revealed that the said relocation intended for Typhoon Sendong victims in 2011 remained unfinished.
Councilor Edgar Cabanlas said there are still over 100 housing units under the 722-housing project, of which the materials were donated by the Japanese government, that still have not yet been built by the contractor in Sitio Pahiron up to this date.
Aside from the unbuilt housing, there were also over 100 units in the said relocation area that have already been completed but allegedly have yet to be turned over by the contractor to the city government.
“Maybe there are some fees that are lacking, something like that, or there are some lackings that have not yet been completed… Before the turnover, we need to check if they were built correctly,” Cabanlas told reporters in the vernacular after the city council session on Monday, September 18.
It can be recalled that the said housing project’s groundbreaking ceremony was conducted on April 25, 2017, according to an online post posted by the official Facebook page of then-Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno.
The land development also started in 2017, and the project construction started in 2018.
Cabanlas revealed these details after Councilor Malvern Esparcia made a special report on Monday about the damaged housing units he discovered after he visited the relocation site in Sitio Pahiron.
During his special report, Esparcia showed some photos showcasing damaged window glasses, housing units that were partially destroyed due to landslides, and unoccupied units full of grass and vandals inside. There were also units, he said, that had missing toilet bowls that were allegedly stolen.
Cabanlas said the 722 housing units under the said project were not built in Sitio Pahiron alone, as the land area couldn’t accommodate the said number of houses.
Only 511 housing units, he said, can be built in Sitio Pahiron. The remaining units were built at the Macapaya Relocation Site in Barangay Camaman-an and Gawad Kalinga in Barangay Balubal, with 186 and 25 housing units, respectively.
Of the 511 housing units in Sitio Pahiron, Cabanlas said, only 225 were turned over to the city government. The remaining were those above-mentioned, over 100 units that were done but not yet turned over by the contractor, and over 100 unbuilt housing units.
Cabanlas told the city council about the possible plan to recommend to City Mayor Rolando Uy if the city government can cater to the repair of those damaged houses and award those units to the beneficiaries without the proper turnover process between the contractor.
“That has been our instruction to CHUDD (City Housing and Urban Development Department), even if they have not yet been turned over, because after the next few months or years, they will deteriorate more,” Cabanlas told reporters in a vernacular on Monday.
Meanwhile, Esparcia also wanted to know CHUDD’s process when it comes to those awarded beneficiaries who will not occupy their units, stressing that there are people who are willing to take advantage of the housing program of the city government.
Lawyer Samuel Rollo, head of CHUDD, the city hall office that handles all relocation sites here, confirmed the figures presented by Cabanlas on the number of units that were completed but yet to be turned over and unbuilt houses in Sitio Pahiron, Barangay Lumbia.
However, he clarified that the contractor, CDH Construction, is still ongoing with the project, explaining that the construction has been temporarily stopped for over two years because of Covid-19 pandemic.
Rollo couldn’t provide the exact date, but when he assumed the role of CHUDD officer-in-charge in January this year, he said, the construction had already resumed.
“In two years’ time, there was no one who checked there because the employees were working from home; it hasn’t been monitored; there are units that have deteriorated by nature because no one was leaving there,” Rollo said in a mix of English and vernacular. This is apart from the alleged theft incidents.
But Rollo said the contractor is willing to shoulder the repair of those damaged units.
Figures presented by Cabanlas were also clarified by CHUDD, saying that 509 housing units are expected to be built in Sitio Pahiron under the 722-housing project. The 186 units, which were correctly mentioned by Cabanlas, were built in Macapaya, and the remaining 27 units were built in Barangay Balubal.
As to Esparcia’s query, the CHUDD head said that they have a process for cancellation, which is still being finalized, especially for awarded beneficiaries who no longer occupy their units despite the multiple attempts made by the office to inform them.
However, prior to the cancellation, the CHUDD will try to contact the beneficiaries using their contact number listed on its database and by posting notices to their respective units to determine the reasons.
During the city council session on Monday, Councilor Jose Pepe Abbu Jr. also urged the CHUDD to provide an inventory to the committee on rural and urban poor and housing development to determine the number of occupied and unoccupied housing units in all relocation sites in this city.
Aside from this, the CHUDD was also urged to provide a list of present occupants to confirm their eligibility, following the previous issue where there were alleged illegal occupants at some of the relocation sites here.
Rollo said they can provide the data once they receive a request.
Nevertheless, the CHUDD head assured that they are committed to the directive of the local chief executive, which is to organize all relocation sites in Cagayan de Oro.
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