Tabor lauds proposal to protect squatters

By LITO RULONA
Correspondent

A COUNCILOR on Monday said a proposed law for squatters may change how local governments carry out relocation programs.

If it becomes a law, Councilor Ramon Tabor said, city hall, for one, would find itself changing its policy on resettlement because relocations to far-flung barangays would become a no-no.

Tabor said House Bill no. 5144 also seeks to protect informal settlers or squatters from demolition, and ensure that relocations would be on-site.

The proposed measure, he said, mandates that affected families be moved within or near cities.

The proposed “On-site, In-City, Near-City Resettlement Act” seeks to amend Republic Act 7279, otherwise known as the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992.

Tabor welcomed the proposal. “This will help them [informal settlers]. This will address the clamor of ‘ayaw mi-ilabay sa layong dapit tungod kay mawala among panginabuhian. Kung ilabay mo kami sa layo, sama ra nga gihinay-hinay kami og patay ninyo.’”

He said the bill is consistent with the advocacy of the city council’s urban poor committee for onsite relocation so that informal settlers would not lose their means of livelihood.

The bill defines “in-city resettlement” as a relocation site within the jurisdiction of a city where affected families are living. Meanwhile, “near cities” refer to relocation sites in cities other than the city of the affected informal settlements, adjacent to the present settlements of the informal settlers.

Tabor said the proposed law would empower informal settlers by making them active partners of the government in the planning and management of their own resettlement.

He said he hoped the Senate would pass HB 5144 in toto.

Councilor Teodulfo Lao said the city government should ask the Senate to include Cagayan de Oro during public consultations on the bill so residents here could state their positions.