BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
A resolution, favorably endorsing the use of a certain portion of the city’s property as residential area in Purok Neptune, Brgy. Singcang Airport, in Bacolod City, was unanimously approved by members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Wednesday.
Councilor Renecito Novero, chairman of the SP Committee on Urban Poor Housing and Resettlement, who authored the resolution, said that on Tuesday, Mayor Evelio Leonardia and Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran visited the fire victims sheltered at the covered court of the JR Torres Elementary School in the barangay.
Novero said they learned that the area that these residents had been occupying for the last four years is owned by the city government, and was purchased from the Arnaldo Family several years ago.
During the visit of Leonardia and Familiaran, they expressed their desire to allocate a portion of the property as residential area for the fire victims, and the construction of a footbridge leading to the Gaisano City Mall, located across the creek near the purok, he said.
Novero added that the commitment of the mayor and the vice mayor will help expedite the realization of the yearning of these residents as expressed in the meetings held between them and his committee members.
When the fire broke out Monday afternoon, Leonardia immediately ordered the DRRMO and DSSD to attend to the needs of the affected families, such as providing them food packs, tents, hygiene kits, and other supplies.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
The city government is also preparing the financial assistance for them, a press release from the city said.
Joining Leonardia and Familiaran in checking on the affected families were Councilor Simple Distrito and Singcang-Airport Barangay Captain Rosinie Distrito, along with Negros Occidental Filipino–Chinese Amity Club executive vice chairman Roger Yap and corporate secretary Crispin Chua, and Amity Fire Brigade members.
The Amity Club also distributed food packs to the affected families.
Forty-seven houses were destroyed and eight others were damaged when fire, believed to have been caused by an electrical short-circuit, broke out in Purok Neptune, affecting 65 families of about 259 individuals. The Bureau of Fire Protection placed the damage at P400,000, since most of the houses destroyed were made of light materials.*
