Squatters evicted from Pasil Fish Port

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Hall personnel yesterday demolished all illegal structures within the vicinity of the Pasil Fish Port at the shoreline of Barangay Pasil, displacing more than 100 persons who now have no home for Christmas.

Mayor Michael Rama said the city will not provide relocation sites for the affected families because it will encourage more squatters.

“Kon mao na daghan ang mopuyo na lang diha sa mga merkado kay hatagan ra man og relocation sites,” Rama said.

The joint team from the Market Operations Division, the Squatters Prevention Encroachment Elimination Division and the Department of Public Services will continue clearing the place today.

Even the owners of the illegal structures that were constructed outside the market building could not believe that Rama gave the order to go through with the demolition of their structures.

But a City Hall employee said Rama was already fed up because during the coastal cleanup in that area last December 11, the mayor personally saw that the market place was very dirty because of the illegal occupants.

“Nakapanglingo-lingo g’yud ang mayor pagkakita sa hugaw kaayo nga lugar, apil na ang mga hugaw sa tawo nga nagkatag lang,” he said.

Market administrator Raquel Arce will ask that some members of the Barangay Intelligence Network be assigned to ensure that the squatters will not return to the Pasil Fish Port.

Fire marshal Aderson Comar sent two of his fire trucks to assist City Hall personnel in cleaning the place by spraying water on the market’s floor and the drainage system.

Illegal occupants who used only bamboo beds voluntarily vacated their belongings from the fish port.

Those who stayed in illegal structures did not destroy their dwellings, but when the SPEED personnel started destroying their structures, the squatters began to pack their things.

About 50 children were brought to the Parian Drop-In Center so it would be easy for their parents to find a new place to live or to return to their respective places of origin.

Rama wants fish vendors from the Pasil Fish Market along Tupaz St. to transfer to the fish port because he is planning to convert the area in front of the San Nicolas Church into a public plaza.

The next move of the city is to widen Belgium St. to give way to the huge cargo trucks that will deliver fish products to the fish port. (THE FREEMAN)