Roxas City to address urban squatters plight soon

by A. Lumaque

Roxas City (28 August) — The city government is coordinating with the National Housing Authority (NHA) for technical assistance to develop the 6–hectare lot at Barangay Tanza here as relocation site for the informal settlers.

“We’re surprised to register 13,000 settlers in the city that is why we created the Local Shelter Plan based on the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA) provisions,” said Roxas City Mayor Vicente Bermejo during his State of Roxas City Address (SORCA) last month.

He added that the development plan for the P6-million worth relocation site is expected to be finished by the city government before the end of 2009.

The city government will also buy a bulldozer in addition to its existing heavy equipments to speed up the immediate construction of access roads and development of the site early next year.

The SORCA report also disclosed the plan of the city government to buy another 32-hectare lot at Barangay Baliuagan, here that will benefit another 3,800 urban squatters.

The local initiative to address the informal settlers supports the national government’s agenda to provide Filipinos with decent human settlement and ample opportunities to improve their quality of life.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration has a “Pabahay sa Bawat Pamilyang Pilipino” program to make housing truly affordable and accessible to ordinary workers.

The program is among the major steps of the government in its fight against poverty. (PIA)