FOLLOWING the issuance of demolition orders for occupants or settlers of portions of the Camp Allen, Navy Base and Philippine Military (PMA) reservations in the city, the city council has approved a resolution seeking to slow down the process and enter a study prior to enactment in order to address the needs of those that would be affected,
Resolution No. 574, series of 2023 was based on recommendations from the Committee on Laws, Human Rights and Justice and seeks to review and study the orders for the formation of appropriate policies to handle the occupants who would be displaced.
According to the council, common policies can be adopted for the occupied portions of the reservations, which may include the possibility of the areas being considered for land banking or identified and included in the inventory of suitable lands for the implementation of the Pampanbansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program under Executive Order No. 34, series of 2023 which empowered the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) to administer and include in the said identification and inventory idle government lands or lands that have not been used for the purposes for which they have been originally reserved as certified to by the city.
However, the council also clarified that they do not possess the power to directly interfere with the implementing office’s functions, directing the occupants to instead submit manifested appeals and position papers to the appropriate agencies, including the Committee on Urban Planning, Lands and Housing.
According to the council, the affected individuals are primarily informal settlers, whose areas were tagged as “fully built-up” by the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) as early as almost a decade ago.
