GIPORLOS, Eastern Samar – Almost three years after supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ destroyed hundreds of houses in this coastal municipality, the local government has yet to draw a list of beneficiaries for the housing units and secure a land where to construct them.
Many residents are getting restless as they are not aware if there is any plan to relocate them, all they know is that the community where they lived from the start is now marked a “no build zone” and that sooner or later they will be asked to leave the place.
“The people are kept in the dark. They don’t know what the plans are for them,” says Rina Reyes, project manager of nongovernment Katarungan-Eastern Visayas.
Over 200 residents from four barangays of Giporlos trooped to the municipal office on Thursday (Sept.8) to seek an audience with Mayor Mark Biong regarding the housing plan for them.
Biong admitted that they are having problems looking for a suitable land for the relocation site.
“It is difficult to find a titled land that is 4.5 hectares big where the 700 houses can be constructed,” he told the audience.
He said some residents volunteered their land but more paper works have to be done like lack of records or the land size that not match what is in the land title.
Biong said there is no final list yet because he does not trust the list given to him by many barangay captains.
“They came from barangay captains. There are times that those who are deserving are not listed, and some who are on the list are not deserving,” he said. (ELMER V. RECUERDO)
