Iloilo City to relocate up to 115 households for new gov’t offices

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

The Iloilo City government has identified up to 115 households for relocation from a city-owned lot in Barangay San Pedro, Molo district, to make way for incoming national government offices, the city’s housing chief said May 28.

Iloilo City Local Housing Office (ICLHO) head Peter Jason Millare said the figure is based on an initial validation survey, but noted that some structures were unoccupied at the time of the survey.

Data from the survey have been finalized and master-listed for submission to the city’s Local Housing Board for beneficiary selection, which requires approval through a board resolution.

The resolution will trigger the ICLHO’s social preparation process for relocating the identified beneficiaries.

“Normally, we mark them as ODS or out during the survey, so normally we go back to them to get the [data], but we tag them in the structures. We counted 115, but there isn’t any data yet [from some structures] so we still have blanks,” Millare said.

Millare confirmed that national government offices will be moving to the San Pedro site, with portions of the land to be formally donated to the agencies.

Early reports identified the offices of the regional, provincial, and city prosecutors as among those to be relocated there, but Millare said the Department of Science and Technology and other government agencies would also be included.

He said residents currently living on the site are already aware of the plan and have been waiting for the city government to act.

The city government has pending applications with the Register of Deeds for lots in Barangays San Isidro and Lanit in Jaro district, which will serve as expansion areas for the relocation sites.

While existing relocation facilities are already in place in those barangays, the pending applications cover additional land to accommodate the incoming relocatees.

“People know that the land there is [owned] by the city government, and they’re just waiting to be relocated. What they want is to have a relocation [site], and of course to be provided [material] assistance to start their relocation,” Millare said.

The ICLHO is also working on site development for the expansion areas, including soil filling to elevate the land.

The elevation work is intended to prevent future relocation sites from flooding.