PRESS RELEASE – June 20, 2013| City continues fight against ‘squatting’ (CEBU CITY Public Information Office) – The Cebu City government continues to address the needs of the homeless by establishing proper housing programs through the Division of the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP). Attorney Collin Rosell, DWUP chief, said that more than P5 million pesos have been collected by the city from its housing program from January to May this year. The income came from 11, 000 beneficiaries who availed of DWUP’s program. From the city’s beneficiaries, half of it does not have a contract yet to their land they are occupying because there were no records of it before until Michael Rama’s first term as mayor, Rosell added. “There are people already on the site but do not have contracts,” Rosell explained adding that the city is very much eager to help these kind of settlers through DWUP. Some documents are just needed for the process. After validation, then the government could then grant them titles to their lot. DWUP was created through Ordinance 1524 in 1994 and was first known as City Commission for the Urban Poor (CCUP). It exist to implement the City’s socialized housing program and provide services towards addressing tenurial and housing needs of the homeless citizens. Also, a total of 10, 450 applicants benefitted from the city’s ‘Let There Be Light’ program from January to May 2013. A joint project between Cebu City government and Visayas Electric Company (VECO), qualified applicants can now have temporary electrical connection to their homes with lesser cost. Rosell said that the urban division is working closely with PROBE (Prevention Rehabilitation Order Beautification and Enhancement), and a special task force formed by mayor Rama to revalidate and strengthen housing laws to prevent proliferation of professional squatting and construction of illegal structures within the city. (Gessa Gunhuran, PIO Staff)
Posted on: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 07:32:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015