Covid-19 container vans to be used as “shelter”

CEBU, Philippines — The container vans used as quarantine and halfway houses during the Covid-19 pandemic will be converted into temporary shelter for those who will be displaced in line with the city’s Gubat sa Baha.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, in an interview with reporters yesterday, said he already told Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) Secretary Manuel Bonoan his wish regarding the use of those donated container vans from their department back in 2020 for another purpose.

DPWH, who was then headed by now senator Mark Villar, turned over P294-million worth of healthcare facilities for treatment and isolation of medical workers in Cebu which included some container vans-turned-dormitories for medical workers and other frontliners in Cebu City.

Rama also said he is connecting with the private sector to request for heavy equipment to put all of these container vans together at the SRP and make it a temporary shelter for those that will be displaced in the recovery of the city rivers.

Although the city government is also planning to build its own temporary and permanent shelters to those that will be displaced, Rama wants to utilize whatever is available at the moment.

Flooding is a major problem that needs to be addressed now, Rama said.

He is also expecting former Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to return to Cebu today for them to proceed with their other plans laid out by the Task Force Gubat sa Baha.

Alongside Cimatu, the former IATF-MEID’s Visayas implementer, Mel Feliciano, is also set to be on-board especially on the recovery of the three-meter easement.

Rama said “there will be no sacred cows” as they will resume with the recovery of the three-meter easement and the clearing obstructions along the rivers. — Iris Hazel Mascardo (FREEMAN)