Alaska folk eye extension of time to pay for lots

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Administrator Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez promised the residents living under the Slum Improvement Resettlement (SIR) Program in sitio Alaska, Barangay Mambaling that the local housing board will submit its recommendation on May 27 in response to their petition for a 20-year extension to pay the lot they are currently occupying.

Members of the Alagad nga Lumolupyo Alang sa Kalambuan Federation (Alaska-Fed), who are facing eviction, met with the housing board on Tuesday to submit their petition asking the city to allow them another 20 years to pay their debt and for the city to grant them further consideration by not imposing interests.

The city gave them until December last year to pay their lot since Presidential Decree 2016 was issued by then President Ferdinand Marcos in 1976.

The SIR program was implemented in 1981 in the area, which extends up to 13.3-hectare wide.

Currently, there are 1,800 families settling in the area but only 125 of them were able to pay their lot in full and are now set to get their certificate of title from the city government.

The rest of them failed to pay their debts for various reasons until the contract expired just last December.

“Kay na-expire naman ang SIR, nihangyo mi ni mayor na i-extend. Daghan man gud ang na-delinquent namo sa una kay panahon pa man ni sa among ginikanan, karon ra mi nakahibawo nga naa diay ning SIR. Wala man gud naningil ang SIR sa amoa sa una,” said Floro Enricoso, vice president of Alaska-Fed.

The original beneficiaries of the SIR are blaming the SIR office, which is now under the Department for the Welfare of Urban Poor - following passage of City Ordinance 1889 on February 2001 - for not supervising and monitoring the program. This resulted to increase in illegal entrants and the reported selling of rights of original beneficiaries.

“Kaning programa man gud nakalimtan na ni sya. Wala ni siya mataga-i og sakto nga pagtagad. Naa man gani city ordinance, ang SIR na-under na sa DWUP pero ang resulta ang DWUP wala mitake-over, ambot unsay rason,” Enricoso said.  (FREEMAN NEWS)