Vice President Jejomar C. Binay today announced that majority of the 5,363 informal settler families identified by the National Housing Authority (NHA) in evacuation centers in Metro Manila can be relocated within the week to available resettlement areas pending the construction of medium-rise buildings (MRBs) and permanent new settlements.
The families will be relocated to resettlement units in Towerville 6 and San Jose in Gaya-gaya, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan; Bocaue; Tanay; Southville 8b Phases 3 and 4; and Southville 9 in Baras, Rizal. The NHA, however, reported to the Vice President that it has yet to conduct a headcount of affected informal settlers in Marikina.
According to Binay, the NHA has also transferred 979 families to available units in higher areas within Kasiglahan Village in Rodriguez, Rizal. The said village is an NHA resettlement site heavily affected by floods during the monsoon rains.
“I have directed the NHA to determine whether or not to totally abandon the site. If it is still suitable for residential purposes, we need to come up with measures to mitigate flooding in the area,” he said.
Currently, the housing sector is pushing for the transfer of ISFs living in danger areas to MRBs in safer sites within Metro Manila as well as in new town settlements.
“While the MRBs are still to be constructed, the most viable option for relocating these families would be to use the available resettlement sites on a temporary basis,” the Vice President said.
The distribution of the identified families are as follows: 150 families in Litex in Quezon City; 2,400 in Manggahan, Pasig; 1,500 in Navotas; 970 in Manila (Happyland, Tondo, Nagtahan, and Isla Puting Bato); 200 in Malabon; 75 in San Juan; and 68 in Mandaluyong.
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