Lots for relocation site under final selection process
BACOLOD CITY – Secretary to the Mayor Atty. Vicente Petierre III confirmed last Friday that the Landbanking Committee under the leadership of Councilor Dindo Ramos, chair of the Committee on Housing and Urban Resettlement, is now in the process of finalizing the lots intended for the relocation of the illegal settlers.
He said the committee awaits the release of the funds based on the P250 million loan entered by the City Government with the Philippine Veterans Bank.
Petierre said that Mayor Evelio Leonardia accompanied last week the representatives of the church and some technical personnel for the site inspection of all lots offered to the city government for relocation site.
Among the areas inspected were the Gallespen property in Barangay Cabug, Henares Magsaysay property, Moya property, Arao and Antigua property in Vista Alegre and others.
Petierre said that the lot inspection was done for the sake of transparency as the Committee on Landbanking had already evaluated said areas last year. He said that the final recommendation of the lots lies on the authority of Mayor Leonardia although there were reports that the price of Gallespen property is reasonable compared to others like the Arao Property.
“The problem of the Gallespen property is the road network as compared to Arao property which is so close to the existing relocation site,” Petierre added.
On the other hand, Councilor Al Victor Espino, chair of the Committee on Appropriation and Finance said that the Department of Finance had already validated that Bacolod City Government can avail the loan as much as P800-million as the city’s debt servicing capacity is sufficient being a highly urbanized city.
He noted that Bacolod has now a total loan of P394.9 million aside from the P250 million proposed with the Philippine Veterans Bank.
