SP’s request for subdivision plans fall on deaf ears
After almost one year Iloilo City Urban Poor and Affairs Office (Icupao) head Roy Firmeza has yet to act on the request of the Sangguniang Panglungsod to submit the subdivision plans of the city’s different relocation sites.
The subdivision plan would be the basis in coming up with the monthly amortization of the relocation site beneficiaries.
In last Wednesday’s regular session, the council passed another resolution asking Firmeza to urgently present the subdivision plans of relocation sites for the approval of the city council.
In October last year, the council also asked Firmeza to submit the subdivision plan and the master list of beneficiaries in the city’s relocation sites. The council made such move after a controversy sparked between Councilor Antonio Pesina, a people’s organization and Icupao in the awarding of lots to beneficiaries.
“The legislative body could not deliberate and approve the repayment scheme for the home lots in the absence of the subdivision plan. It is impossible to proceed with the repayment scheme,” said Pesina.
Pesina, chair of the committee on urban poor, human rights and minority group, said the subdivision plan is necessary in determining the boundaries of each home lot and area occupied by recipients. It is a prerequisite in coming up with a monthly amortization for qualified beneficiaries.
The subdivision plan is a requirement in the finalization of the contract to sell between the city government and the relocatees. The home lot provided by the city government is not for free. It would be sold to the recipients at a cheaper price.
The city government already has several relocation sites which include the latest ones in Sooc, Arevalo and San Isidro, Jaro.
The repayment scheme was then proposed for the relocation site in San Isidro, Lapaz; Bitoon in Jaro and South Fundidor in Molo. In the 2007 meeting with the committee and the beneficiaries, the initial repayment scheme presented before them is P135 per month for a 60 square meters homelot. The term of payment is 10 years.
As soon as the repayment scheme is finalized, it will be presented to the committee on legal matters chaired by Majority Floor Leader Eduardo Peñaredondo.
On his part, Peñaredondo said the recipients could not start paying the awarded home lot as long as Icupao could not provide them the subdivision plans.
Peñaredondo said it is a sad reality that the occupants have yet to acquire the title for the home lot because of the delay in the submission of the subdivision plans and the eventual finalization of the repayment scheme.
There would be no transaction between the buyer and the city government with the stalemate in the documentation procedures in the repayment scheme, said Peñaredondo.