ABOUT 425 families facing eviction inside the reservation area of the Fourth Infantry Division’s (4ID) Camp Evangelista will soon be provided a city-owned lot, Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Rolando Uy said.
In his program last Friday, Mayor Uy said he was assured by top officials of 4ID that they would forward his request for a delay of the scheduled April 1 demolition of houses occupied by the families inside the reservation area in Camp Evangelista, Barangay Patag this city.
“I thanked 4th ID chief Maj. Gen. (Jose Maria) Cuerpo (II) for visiting me at my office about this issue and he assured me that he will relay my request to defer the demolition to allow the children to finish their schooling at the Camp Evangelista Elementary School…I understand and the families understood (that the demolition is inevitable),” Uy said in Visayan.
The 4th ID leadership is said to have assured its commitment to provide for the needs of the 425 families composed of 1,974 persons that will be displaced by the demolition.
The reservation area is covered by Presidential Proclamation No. 265 and the Supreme Court rendered its ruling against the petitioners as ‘final and executory’ last year.
Uy said some settlers already demolished their houses in the area while 4ID spokesman Maj. Francisco Garello said they and Barangay Patag officials held a pre-demolition conference as early as September last year for the families. Details on the lot to be chosen for the families have yet to be disclosed.
“I told the Chudd to (fast-track the assessment and development) of the city-owned property for the affected families. Never mind if the area has yet to be fully developed so long as we provide concrete assurance that there will be a lot reserved for these families where they can build their own homes,” Uy said in Visayan. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)
