P50 B allocated for eviction of waterway squatters

MANILA, Philippines - Some P50 billion has been allotted for the relocation of over 100,000 squatter families living along waterways and other high-risk areas in Metro Manila by 2016, the National Housing Authority (NHA) said yesterday.

NHA general manager Chito Cruz said P10 billion had been disbursed in 2012 and the same amount is set to be released this year and every year thereafter until 2016 for the relocation of informal settlers to permanent housing at the rate of 20,000 families per year.

“The priority are those living along waterways, under bridges – no ifs or buts,” Cruz told The STAR in a telephone interview.

He said relocating squatters is an inter-agency effort involving not just the NHA but also the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Department of Public Works and Highways, and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

He said that of the 104,000 informal settler families in high-risk areas, 60,000 live along waterways.

To be cleared as soon as possible are eight major waterways crisscrossing Metro Manila.

By next month, the San Juan River shall have been cleared of informal settlers, he said.

The government, he said, has three modes of relocating the informal settlers – in city, off-site, and with help from civil society groups involved in housing poor families.

This year, the government has made available 5,000 units in several medium-rise buildings in various parts of Metro Manila including Smokey Mountain in Manila, Valenzuela City, and Caloocan City, Cruz said.

Also being set up are 9,000 off-site units in Bocaue and San Jose del Monte in Bulacan as well as in Tanay and Baras in Rizal, he said.

Cruz said the government is working with civil society groups for the establishment of 7,000 more units this year. He did not name the groups.

“We are scouting for additional lands for relocation,” Cruz said.

He said the MMDA and the DILG – aside from listing the names of the beneficiaries – are also doing biometrics to ensure accuracy of the record and prevent double counting.