SIR beneficiaries promise to pay, sign contract with city government

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City government, through Mayor Michael Rama, recently signed a contract with hundreds of resettlement beneficiaries.

Rama said he will put the contract, which is written in a manila paper, inside a vault and open it 10 years after.

The contract reads: “Kami mga SIR (slum improvement resettlement) beneficiaries mobayad sa among utang sa sulod sa 10 ka tuig. Kon dili mahitabo ang pagbayad bakakon kami. (We the SIR beneficiaries will pay our debt within ten years. If this will not happen, we are liars).”

Rama said the purpose of the contract signing is to remind the beneficiaries that they also have their obligations to fulfill, and that is to pay their monthly mortgages.

Prior to the signing of the contract, the beneficiaries shared their issues including, among others, payments, re-structuring, condonation, payments, and titling of their lots in a consultation with Atty. Collin Rossell, head of the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP).

These beneficiaries are from Barangays Suba, Pasil, Sawang Calero and Alaska Mambaling who will be paying the city government in a rent-to-own scheme for the next 10 years.

The contract is based from City Ordinance No. 2259 or “An Ordinance restructuring the loans and extending the terms of payment to a maximum period of ten years of the beneficiaries of the slum improvement and resettlement (SIR) program,” which was passed on December 10, 2010.

Earlier, Rossell admitted that they had problems with the collections of the monthly amortizations of more than half of the lot or housing beneficiaries as they still have not signed a contract with the government.

Rossell blamed the previous administration for the lapse, but assured that his office is addressing this problem. — (FREEMAN)