Problems haunt North Baluarte fire victims
The release of the P500,000 Presidential Fund opened a lot of questions and concerns among the affected fire victims in North Baluarte, Molo district.
They claimed that several families who originally live in Tanza are among those included in the list of beneficiaries of the financial assistance. Said families were reportedly accommodated in North Baluarte after the Iloilo City Urban Poor Affairs Office (ICUPAO) made a survey on the area.
The number of affected families rose from 218 to 329 families.
The reported transfer of several other families in North Baluarte has reached the attention of barangay officials but no action was taken, the source said.
Also, the affected families complained that they are made to sign in a blank paper for unknown reasons. A member of the Civilian Volunteer Organization (CVO) is conducting a house-to-house operation, the source said.
North Baluarte barangay captain Emilio Cua-Locsin, on his part, vowed to look into the complaint as he challenged the residents to identify the person who is doing the rounds gathering signatures in a blank paper.
Meanwhile, Locsin said that there is a certain organization, the Time Force International, which plans to reclaim the 2.5 hectares of land in the area but he believes it is not related to the blank paper being circulated.