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Lorega (11 06 2018)

The document discusses issues surrounding informal settlements in the Philippines and re-blocking efforts in Barangay Lorega-San Miguel, Cebu City. It notes that informal settlements are a problem for many urban areas in the Philippines. Cebu City is attempting to address the problem through building more socialized housing units to house around 50,000 informal settlers. The document then focuses on Barangay Lorega-San Miguel, describing its history and current problems like poverty, crime, and sanitation issues. It outlines the city's re-blocking efforts after fires displaced residents, but notes the efforts have led to disorganized construction that disregards building codes and safety standards. Issues include overcrowded homes, lack of sanitation facilities

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Marsha Amparo Presas
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1K views14 pages

Lorega (11 06 2018)

The document discusses issues surrounding informal settlements in the Philippines and re-blocking efforts in Barangay Lorega-San Miguel, Cebu City. It notes that informal settlements are a problem for many urban areas in the Philippines. Cebu City is attempting to address the problem through building more socialized housing units to house around 50,000 informal settlers. The document then focuses on Barangay Lorega-San Miguel, describing its history and current problems like poverty, crime, and sanitation issues. It outlines the city's re-blocking efforts after fires displaced residents, but notes the efforts have led to disorganized construction that disregards building codes and safety standards. Issues include overcrowded homes, lack of sanitation facilities

Uploaded by

Marsha Amparo Presas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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REBlocked LOREGA

Informal settlements is an on going problem of any congested metropolis in the


Philippines with economies being concentrated on highly urbanized cities and
municipalities. The urban sprawls of these cities provides a backdrop to the
nagging struggles of cities or municipalities from curbing the problem of
informal settlers.
One such highly urbanized city is the City of Cebu. To address their problems of
informal settlers, the city government through the efforts of the Division for the
Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) and the Department of Social Welfare and
Development (DSWD) is pushing for the building of more socialized housing
units to solve the housing backlog of an estimated 50,000 informal settlers in the
city.
BARANGAY LOREGA-SAN MIGUEL

Barangay Lorega – San Miguel got its name from a very popular resident soldier in the
name of General Enrique Lorega who died and was buried in the Lorega Municipal
Cemetery, and from an equally popular sitio called San Miguel from where the old
warehouse of San Miguel Brewery was found in the barangay. Lorega-San Miguel is
best known for its old public slaughterhouse which was later modernized at the North
Reclamation Area.
Surrounded arguably by one of the busiest streets of Cebu City, Lorega has had quite a
reputation for being one of the most problematic settlements in Cebu. Poverty, crime,
drugs, sanitation, fragmentation of houses and hindered circulations are some of the
notable problems of this barangay.
Barangay Lorega, has
approximately 13 hectares of
land that is in the heart of Cebu
City, flanked by Barangay
Carreta, Barangay Day-as in T.
Padilla, and Barangay Zapatera.
It is currently one of the biggest
barangay’s in the city that is
experiencing an upsurge of
informal settlers.
 Bounded by Imus avenue to its South, General Maxilum Avenue to its east, and Gen
Echavez St. to its North, Lorega is a barangay with 17 Sitios: Laguna, San Miguel,
Camanse, Itum Yuta, Lawis, The Proper, Canares, Caimito, New Road, Creekside,
Riverside, Seres, Lomar, Phantom, Echavez Extension, Quadrangle and San Roque. The
residents’ major sources of livelihood includes butchering, general cleaning, and some
small scale enterprises like neighbourhood stores (sari-sari stores) and eateries
(carenderias).
 It has approximately 11,863 residents based on the 2015 Census, roughly 1.29% of Cebu
City’s population. The 10-14 age bracket comprises the majority of the residents with the
age 68 and above as the least number. Their Barangay Captain is Hon. Fritzgerald D.
Herrera.
 Over the years, Barangay Lorega has undergone many changes and have endured tragedies.
With the fire in 2007 that forced more than 100 families to live in the old Lorega
Cemetery, and another fire in 2014 that left 7,000 people homeless, the need for urgent
re-blocking of the affected areas became of utmost importance for the city government.
RE-BLOCKING and its problems:
The objective of the re-blocking was to provide properly planned, livable housing
and better road networks for the affected and displaced residents. Aiming for
better housing units that can give a comfortable place for the residents, improved
circulation for pedestrians and vehicles particularly emergency services vehicles
for fire and rescue, the Cebu City government started to implement re blocking plans
in June of 2014, three months after the March 2014 fire.
The 1200 affected families of approximately 6500 people were given subdivided lots
that ranged from 9-12sq.m lots, depending on the financial capability of the
beneficiaries to pay for their monthly amortization.
Various sponsors and donations facilitated by SVD- and ANCE, Inc. (Action for
Nurturing Childen and the Environment, Inc.),became the source of financial
help for the residents to start building their homes.
RESIDENCES ON THE RE BLOCKED
SITES

This 9 sq.m lot with a 3 storey house sits


on a corner lot with 10 people living in it.

The set up has their living, dining,


kitchen and bathroom at the ground floor
while their sleeping quarters are on the
2nd and 3rd storeys of the house.

Their upper floors are accessed by a steep


stairs which can be considered a ladder to
their sleeping quarters.
This 12 sq.m lot has 2 storey house with a lot size
of 3m frontage and 4m deep.
Their typical arrangement has the living, dining,
kitchen, and bathroom still at the ground floor ,
while the 2nd floor is divided into 2 rooms as
sleeping quarters for two separate extended family
members.
The living room is then converted into a sleeping
quarter for another member of the family at night.
These are typical houses in a 12 sq.m lot. The
same configurations as to their other
counterparts, ground floor has the living,
dining, kitchen and bathroom, while the upper
floor has their sleeping quarters.

Mixed materials are being used by the


residents, with the shell of the house made of
cement, and the interior hass wood and
plywood partitions.
Other homeowners opted for single storey
houses due to the fact that financial constraints
prevented them from doing multiple storey
house.

Some houses does not have bathroom and


latrine provisions that they have to pay their
neighbours to use their bathrooms daily.
With the implementation of the re blocking, it produced a disorganized and haphazard construction
of the housing units of the beneficiaries. Blatant disregard of building laws of the housing units by
the residents coupled with the City’s inability to supervise these constructions were clearly evident.

Existing conditions of the ‘re-blocked’ units

1. Improper sanitary drainage and utilities facilities in all sections of re blocked areas.
Some houses do not even have provisions for bathrooms and toilets.

2. National Building Code (NBC) guidelines and BP 220 (Socialized Housing Code) were
not followed and blatantly disregarded by the residents, resulting in a chaotic pattern of
3-4 storey houses without some semblance of uniformity and design standards.

3. Houses built in a 9-12 sq.m lot rose to as high as 3 stories with an average of
8-10 persons per household. Extended family units live in homes that is supposed to house
at least 4-5 persons only.
4. Building materials used by these re- built structures are fire hazards that could possibly be
dangerous to the residents.

5. Road networks was establish for ease of vehicular and pesdestrian flows but many residents
chose to set up their small medium enterprises neighbourhood sari sari stores, carenderias on
the sidewalks/side roads that impedes the flow of vehicles.

5. Children are left to play at roadsides, that presents clear danger to their
lives and to the people driving on these roads.

6. Improper garbage disposal seems to be a perennial problem for these settlements and
must be addressed
Controversies arose from the hasty implementation as per interviews with the beneficiaries, one of
which is the illegal distribution of re-blocked and prime located lots to non-Lorega residents thus
depriving of deserving Lorega resident beneficiaries of their right to own lots in their Barangay.

Others lamented of the small lot areas being distributed by the City and the lack of proper system
and coordination between government agencies involved in the program. The bureaucracy reared
its ugly head in the processing of the beneficiaries claims to owning the lots. Others also said they
have not started paying for the lots they received, and is only paying for their monthly electricity
and water bills.

With these problems enumerated, there is an utmost need for the Local government to mitigate and
find solutions to these systemic problems of re blocking. The objectives must be to provide better
housing units that are livable, structurally stable and must able to enhance the way of living for the
residents.

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