Victims of Luz fire get toilet seats from city

CEBU, Philippines - Fire victims of Barangay Luz yesterday received 234 toilet seats from the city government.

“Nalipay gyud mi, kay ang mga tawo nangayo man gyud ani para makumpleto na ang ilang pagpatukod og balay. Nalipay pud sila kay matiwas na gyud og himo ang ilang kasilyas,” said barangay captain, Rian Tante.

After the distribution yesterday led by Mayor Michael Rama, Tante said other families requested to have their own toilet seats. He added that they will have until next week for the cut-off time for the request and after that, they will submit the list to the mayor.

“Before we will be giving them the toilet bowls, we will conduct a survey on the residences of those who requested if they really have a septic tank ready,” he said.

One of the problems of the barangay was poor sanitation as some of the residents do not have septic tanks and their waste goes directly to the drainage, the reason why Tante made sure that septic tanks will be ready before they will give the toilet seats.

Rama’s chief of staff Phillip Zafra said over 200 people flooded the Sitio Abellana Sports Complex in the said barangay to personally receive the toilet seats. The seats were made of cement with the same form and design as ceramic toilet seats.

An estimated budget of P50,000 was allotted by the city government since this is part of its sanitation program.

Aside from the distribution of the toilet seats, the city’s Department of Public Services under Engr. Julie Guliza also observed the suction of the septic tanks in the barangay. They started with the septic tanks in the school and continued with those of the different residences in the barangay.

“We heard the plea of the fire victims. Amo gyud silang tabangan kutob sa among makaya kay lisod pod baya pagbalik kung gikan nasunogan. We’re really willing to help and we’ll also depend on the availability of the stocks,” Zafra said.

The street cleaning they also conducted yesterday was considered successful, but Tante also requested the mayor to deploy CITOM enforcers regularly at Cabantan St. since there were a lot of complaints regarding illegal parking.

“Successful among cleaning sa dalan ganiha and nakita ni mayor unsa ka limpyo ang dalan. Maong ni-request pud mi sa regular nga pag-adto sa CITOM sa Cabantan St. kay daghan kaayong reklamo sa illegal parking. No parking man gyud na ang tibuok street pero daghan gihapon kaayo ang mo-park, mas-worst pa kay daghan pod ang mag-overnight parking ngadto,” he added.  (FREEMAN)