After Wednesday\u2019s big fire that destroyed houses of 79 families in barangay Day-as, Cebu City, can fire victims return to rebuild?<\/p>\n\n
Some residents picked through the ruins, salvaging building materials but they were stopped from doing more by the private property owner.<\/p>\n\n
Councilor Alvin Dizon, worried about the reports, said urban poor residents who\u2019ve been staying there for years can\u2019t be evicted by reason of the disaster.<\/p>\n\n
Dizon, who chairs the council’s housing committee, said the lot owner informed Day-as barangay officials that they won’t allow the fire victims to rebuild in the area since they have other plans for their property.<\/p>\n\n
“Fire can\u2019t be used as grounds for evicting families,” Dizon said.<\/p>\n\n
He cited as examples the 300 T. Padilla families whose structures were burned by a 2010 fire and the 100 Duljo Fatima families who also lost their homes to a recent fire.<\/p>\n\n
Dizon said these families were also turned away by private lot owners but they were eventually allowed to rebuild on the same site.<\/p>\n\n
“Only a valid court order can demolish the homes of these (Day-as) families,” he said.<\/p>\n\n
Dizon said he would write to the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PUP) to check on the status and ownership of the Day-as property so that officials would be properly guided on what action to take.<\/p>\n\n
“If there is no pending case or court order, then the fire victims can always go back,” he said.<\/p>\n\n
Based on records from Cebu City Hall’s Department of Social Welfare Services (DSWS), the fire affected 79 families and 42 house owners, leaving 354 persons homeless.<\/p>\n\n
The fire hit three sitios of Moon Face, Buli and Tender Heart in barangay Day-as. Basic relief packs of food were distributed to the victims.<\/p>\n\n
Schoolchildren were unable to attend classes since most of their clothes and their school materials were also burned.<\/p>\n\n
Most of the displaced families are temporarily staying in a nearby barangay gym. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After Wednesday\u2019s big fire that destroyed houses of 79 families in barangay Day-as, Cebu City, can fire victims return to rebuild?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1242,1227],"tags":[2573,334],"byline":[],"source":[206068],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n