HUDO Demolition Team head Ceasar Ylanan said that 12 houses were demolished while two families volunteered to destroy their own houses.
These houses that were demolished were the ones that encroached the three-meter easement zone of “Estero” creek, Ylanan added.Favian Virgil, chairman of the Tipolo Urban Poor Dwellers Association whose whose house was among those destroyed, said they don’t have a place to live because they were not given a relocation site or financial assistance by the city government.
Virgil also believes that the demolition did not undergo a right process. He said that there was no resolution from the barangay and approval from the city council. He claims there was no court order too. But Fatima Lapiña, community affair officer 1 of HUDO’s beneficiaries, selection committee, stressed that the office followed the right process.
Lapiña said that they have conducted consultative meeting with the affected residents multiple times. They also sent notices to vacate but the residents did not evacuate the area.Moreover, Lapiña said that the demolition does not need a court order because the area is“Nabaryan na ni sila before most ani nila beneficiaries sa LTHAI but wala mo transfer….