Indigenous Peoples (IP) representative in the Davao City Council

Ata chieftain Mamboo is lumad rep
in Davao City Council

LUMAD UNITY. Ata tribal leader Datu Jose Amban, right, decks with a symbolic lei fellow Ata leader Datu Severino Mamboo to enthrone the latter as Indigenous Peoples (IP) representative to the Davao City Council. Datu Amban backed out in the last minute during the election of mandatory IP representative on Saturday held at Davao City Council session hall attended by nearly 500 lumads. ROGER M. BALANZA

BY ROGER M. BALANZA

Tribal custom pushed aside mandated process on Saturday in the election of mandatory representative for Indigenous Peoples (IP) in the Davao City Council, who was declared winner and proclaimed under an emotion-filled tribal ceremony, held at the council session hall.
About 500 lumad voters from far-flung Paquibato District in colorful tribal attire witnessed the installation of Barangay Mapula tribal leader Datu Severino Mamboo by lone rival Datu Jose Amban of Barangay Pandaitan, who withdrew his bid prior to the actual voting.
The tribal natives gave the event tribal color by starting with a blood offering by slitting the throat of a white-feathered chicken right on the floor of the session hall.

LUMAD UNITY. Ata tribal leader Datu Jose Amban, right, decks with a symbolic lei fellow Ata leader Datu Severino Mamboo to enthrone the latter as Indigenous Peoples (IP) representative to the Davao City Council. Datu Amban backed out in the last minute during the election of mandatory IP representative on Saturday held at Davao City Council session hall attended by nearly 500 lumads. ROGER M. BALANZA

But in his introductory speech, Datu Amban withdrew from the contest, making Datu Mamboo the lone candidate for the post, “for the sake of the lumad unity as wished by Mayor Sara Duterte and Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.”
Datu Amban’s withdrawal shocked and surprised  the lumads which jampacked the session hall and gave the tribal leader a standing ovation and a rouusing applause  during the most-emotion filled portion of the election process.

As the lumads cried at the sudden turn of events, tearful tribal leaders rushed to the middle of the session hall to embrace Amban and Mamboo, thanking the former for his sacrifice for the sake of tribal unity.
Amban run but lost as a candidate under Team Nograles of former Speaker Prospero Nograles in the Seond District city council race in the May elections last year where Mayor Sara Duterte defeated Nograles by more than 220,000 votes.
With the mandated election process pushed aside by tribal custom, Ata tribal council chair Joel Manalangan affirmed Mamboo as the Ata tribes’ representative to the local legislative body.
I was moved to tears, said Merilo Limbaro, city officer of the Department of Interior and  Local Government (DILG), in his speech during the closing ceremony.
Limbaro witnessed the dramatic event with National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Davao del Sur provincial officer Cris Ingay, City Planning and Development officer Roberto Alabado, Business Bureau chief Dwight Domingo who represented Mayor Duterte, city councilors Conrado Baluran, jJashera Conzales, Jackson Reyes, Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling and Marissa Salvador Abella. Cabling, chair of the council Committee on Muslim Affairs and Indigenous Peoples, authored the city ordinance creating the mandatory representative mandated by the Indigenous Peoples Right Act (IPRA). Abella is co-chair of the committee.

READ MORE:Amnesty International, Akbayan Partylist impressed by election of Indigenous peoples mandatory representative in Davao City Council

At the tail-end of the event, Limbaro declared the election process in order and Ingay affirming the election of Mamboo as provided by the rules government election of the mandatory representative to the local legislative council.
Serving no purpose in the election were four empty bottles waiting for the votes of the lumads. Had the mandated election process pushed through, the lumads, under Ata custom of voting, would have lined up to place a corn seed in the bottle with the name of their candidate.
Two other candidates were supposed to join the contest but also withdrew prior to the Saturday election: Tapak barangay captain Arturo Ali and tribal leader Joel Onad, vice chair of the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCD).
The Cabling ordinance alphabetically named the tribes whose representatives would sit in the council, with the Ata tribe getting the first crack. The other tribes are Clata, Guiangan, Matigsalog, Obo-Manuobo and local Muslim tribe Kagan (Kalagan).
Mamboo would be the first IP representative to sit in the Davao City Council since the approval of the ordinance in 2010.

LUMAD COUNCILOR . An Ata tribal datu readies a white-feathered chicken whose blood was offered as a symbol of unity during a tribal ceremony prior to the election of the Indigenous Peoples 9(IP) mandatory representative to the Davao City Council Council on Saturday. Ata tribal leader Datu Severino Mamboo, right, of Mapula, Paquibato District was declared as IP representative after olone rival Datu Jose Amban of Pandaitan, Paquibato withdrew his bid at the last minute during the election held at the Davao City Council session hall attended by nearly 500 lumads. ROGER M. BALANZA 1p2 LUMAD COUNCILOR . An Ata tribal datu slits a white-feathered chicken whose blood was offered as a symbol of unity during a tribal ceremony prior to the election of the Indigenous Peoples (IP) mandatory representative to the Davao City Council Council on Saturday. Ata tribal leader Datu Severino Mamboo, right, of Mapula, Paquibato District was declared as IP representative after olone rival Datu Jose Amban of Pandaitan, Paquibato withdrew his bid at the last minute during the election held at the Davao City Council session hall attended by nearly 500 lumads. ROGER M. BALANZA

Avisado, Cabling, Bello lead city council races

            The race to be Number One in the Davao City Council derbies has a councilor returnee and two incumbents leading the pack.

            Davao City has three districts represented by eight councilors in the 24-man local legislative body. The three frontliners in the races are all Hugpong candidates.

            In the First District, former city councilor and former city administrator Wendel Avisado is enjoying a wide lead against a pack of about 90 candidates.

            In the Second District, incumbent councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling is in the lead, with councilors Louie John Bonguyan and Dante Apostol, a breath away from the top slot. Hugpong has 16 candidates for the 8-man council seat, with 8 running under Team Nograles of Speaker Prospero Nograles and about 20 running as independent.

            In the Third District, first-time councilor Kaloy Bello is ahead and leading the 8-man Hugpong slate, also enjoying an edge against Team Nograles and the independent bets.

            Observers said Avisado’s lead is natural having been a top councilor in the past, and being Mayor Duterte’s city administrator for years. The former regional director of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), former executive director of the Davao Integrated Development Program (DIDP), and top executive of the JVA group of companies before he joined City Hall also has established a wide following as one of the city’s planners in the government and private sector.

            Cabling’s lead is credited to his emergence as a council leader with veteran councilors winding up their three terms and running for other posts in the May polls. Cabling also has gained wide public acceptance with his outstanding performance as author of landmark legislations like the Davao City Shelter Code, the Watershed Protection, Conservation and Management Code. In the district, Cabling’s high rating is backstopped by vote-rich urban poor groups and settlers associations he assisted in securing soft loans for land purchases with government financial institutions and in negotiations for saleb y owners of properties with on-site urban poor settlers.

            Bello’s winning stretch in the Third District is helped by father, former Executive Secretary Silvestre “Bebot” Bello, whose senatorial campaign is a crucial machinery for the younger Bello’s first reelection bid.    

ON BUILDING A SQUATTER-FREE CITY

“On the right track towards providing long-term solution to housing for the city’s thousands of homeless urban poor.”

By ROGER M. BALANZA

            All local government units have one common problem: informal settlers. In highly urbanized LGUs like Davao City, the number of informal settlers grows annually due to migration by people seeking better opportunities.

            Also spread out around the city are old settlements on private lands working out purchase plans with owners that could not be speedily pursued due to fund lack.

            While anti-squatting laws are in place to prevent illegal occupation of private and government lands by informal settlers, the spirit of humanity, sometimes, bind LGU hands from enforcing an iron-fisted policy.

            Good urban land reform planning however is seen as a long-term solution to urban squatting.

            In Davao City, housing planners map out multi-pronged approaches to respond to relocation, funding source and creation of sustainable communities for thousands of informal settlers.

            On top of this grand plan to make Davao City squatter-free is the Local Housing Board chaired by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.  Armed with the Davao City Shelter Code, the landmark legislation authored by Councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling, the Local Housing Board identifies on-site and off-site settlements, approves funding for land purchase and guides the implementation of socialized housing projects. The Local Housing Board also interacts with key national government housing agencies to collaborate on implementation of housing projects.

            With Vice Mayor Sara Duterte at the Davao City Council providing a guiding hand to support legislation strengthening socialized housing programs, the Davao City government is on the right track towards providing long-term solution to housing for the city’s thousands of homeless urban poor.

            The Urban Land Reform Program (ULRP) has been strengthened lately with the participation of the Socialized Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC), which would absorb about 75 percent of cost of land purchase of local government socialized housing projects.

            The SHFC funding initiative under its Localized Community Mortgage Plan (LCMP) would quadruple the capability of the local governments P100 million stand-by housing fund to serve more informal settlers and other qualified sectors.

             

                Flagship projects

About 40 hectares of property where there was supposed to rise an export processing zone in the early 90s—for two decades a wide piece of abandoned land—has been turned into a settlement for thousands of homeless urban poor dwellers here.

Failing to take off after initial road works and several buildings and much fanfare, the First Oriental Ventures project on the 70-hectare property in Barangay Ilang, Bunawan District crashed even as it was touted as Davao City’s window to the world export market.

            But while the city lost its chance to be in the map of the country’s export processing zones, the First Oriental Ventures’ failure has come as a gift to indigent homeless families looking for a roof over their heads in this city of 1.4 million where acute housing is social problem.

            The First Oriental Ventures property had been foreclosed by the banks after the company closed down and abandoned the project.

            Today, this piece of grasslands could serve as model for the city’s ULRP.

            About twelve homeowners associations under the umbrella of the Kobbler Federation—a non-government organization of urban poor associations—has been born on the site.

           The Philippine Deposit Insurance Commission, the Fareast Bank and the Land Bank, who collectively own the property worth about P60 million, through their joint Asset Privatization Committee, has already issued intent to sell the property to the settlers numbering around 3,000 families after negotiation by Councilor Cabling.

 

            Worth about P60 to P70 million, the property has now more than 3,000 families settled on the site which could own their lots under the Localized Community Mortgage Program (LCMP). A program of the state-owned Socialized Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC), the program allows for purchase of settlement site with SHFC pitching in 75 percent of the cost and the local government the remaining 25 percent. Beneficiaries pay amortizations on a long-term contract, with the local government handling collection.

Massive purchases

Of late, the Davao City Council approved purchase by City Hall of three properties of about six hectares worth P14 million for on-site urban poor settlers.

The associations to benefit from the fund under the city’s Urban Land Reform Program (ULRP) are the Kahayag Homeowner’s Association, Inc. located in Barangay Indangan, Buhangin (P3,492.250.00);Small Communal Homeowners Association, Inc. (SCHOAI), in Ula, Tugbok District (P6,311,000.00); and New Kasilak Homeowner’s Association, Inc. in Barangay Mahayag, Bunawan District (P5,000,000.00).

Three large informal settlers’ associations in Davao City are leading the way in Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s vision to make his city squatter-free.

          Cabling has finalized negotiations with owners of properties occupied by South and North San Juan villages in Agdao, Sasa-Panacan homeowners association and Kobbler housing in Barangay Ilang for purchase of the properties for distribution to about 3,000 families.

              The land buying spree would also be pursued through the Localized Community Mortgage Plan (LCMP) of the state-owned Socialized Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) which would chip in about 75% of purchase price, with the local government sharing 25 percent.

               The 6-hectare South and North San Juan property of Mr. Chua involves around 1,000 families, while the Sapaha property of six hectares of ComVal Gov. Arturo Uy also has the same number. The banks-owned Kobbler area of about 30 hectares, site of the defunct Oriental Ventures export zone project, has around 3,000 families of about 9,000 members. 

                       

            Teachers’ Village

 

           

Last month, Department of Education Undersecretary Ramon Bacani said DepEd would make as a model the Davao City government project providing housing to public school teachers and non-teaching personnel.

This developed as top guns from the government’s key housing agencies signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Davao City government that would provide housing to about 250 homeless public school teachers and non-teaching personnel in the city.

Bacani attended the signing of the P100 million project in behalf of Secretary Jesli Lapuz. He said he would look into how the Davao City project could be replicated nationwide to benefit teachers through out the country.

            Groundbreaking ceremony was also held for the 2-hectare project in Lasang—the country’s first ever joint venture on low-cost housing for public school teachers between a local government and key government housing agencies and the private sector.

 

Collaboration

 

            The MOU on the undertaking involves Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Department of Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapuz; Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-ibig) Chief Executive Officer Jaime A. Fabiana; National Housing Authority (NHA) General Manager Federico A. Laxa; and Habitat for Humanity Philippines Foundation, Inc., Chairman Francisco F. del Rosario.

The project is under the Pabahay Program of DepEd that aims to provide decent and affordable housing to teachers and non-teaching personnel of the department who cannot acquire housing due to their insufficient salary and the restrictive cost of housing;

            The project would rise up in the 20-hectare land donated by Alsons Development and Investment Corporation (Alsons) to the Davao City government in compliance with Republic Act 7279 otherwise known as the Urban Housing Development Act (UDHA). The act mandates housing developers to allocate—under its Balanced Housing Development provision —20% of total subdivision area or 20 % of total project cost of a housing subdivision for socialized housing. Other than the area for public school teachers, the Alson-donated property would also be utilized for socialized housing for city government employees, Kagawad Kalinga-identified homeless urban poor, beneficiaries from special sectors, and for parks and playgrounds. 

Last week, the Davao City Council also approved   purchase by City Hall of three properties of about six hectares worth P14 million for urban poor settlers.

           

For the future

 

          There are several dozens more homeowners association existing as informal settlers are negotiations are underway for the city government to provide funding for land purchases.

            And as it looks to the future, the Davao City government foresees more migration coming in as the city’s unlimited opportunities as Southern Mindanao’s premier city lure migrants from other provinces and regions. But city planners have no doubt that the city government has already set into place the machinery for long-term solution to urban poor housing in the Shelter Code authored by Councilor Cabling and the political will of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Vice Mayor Sara Duterte to achieve the Dabawenyos vision to make their city squatter-free.

Status Report on the Urban Land Reform Program

Davao City Shelter Code

Legislative Anchor

Davao City Local Housing Board

Implementing Arm

STANDING FUND

P100 million for socialized housing

P300 million projected

support fund from

Socialized Housing Finance Corporation

P20 million Housing Balance fund

under Urban Development and Housing Act

FOR IMPLEMENTATION

 P3.4M

Kahayag Homeowner’s Association

Barangay Indangan, Buhangin

P6M

Small Communal Homeowners Association, Inc. (SCHOAI)

Ula, Tugbok District

P5M

New Kasilak Homeowner’s Association, Inc.

Barangay Mahayag, Bunawan District

P90M

Sasa-Panacan Homeowners Association

Panacan

 

P60M

Kobbler Foundation

Ilang

 

P60M

North and South San Juan

Agdao

 

P5M

Road-Right-Of-Way

Kobbler Federation

 

P7.5M

DepEd Pabahay Program

Lasang

 

P50M

Approved Commitment

for land purchase of

on-site settlement   

 

Hi-tech geo-information technology system offered Davao City

UNESCO, China to help Davao protect watersheds

            A Chinese university professor has offered free software on watershed protection to Davao City, a move much applauded by over a hundred participants in a forum on watershed conservation held at the Marco Polo Hotel yesterday.

Professor Dr. Demin Zhou of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Capital Normal University in China was among foreign speakers at the forum Multiple Uses of River Basins – Tools to Harmonize Conflicting Interests organized by the United Nations Education, Scientific Organization (UNESCO) and Help Network-Davao.

 Professor Dr. Shahbaz Khan, Senior Programme Specialist and Chief of Sustainable Water Resources Development and Management Section of UNESCO, said a two-year action plan would be crafted to strengthen conservation efforts with the help of the United Nations agency.

Khan, who is based in Paris, flew into town with Dr. Zhou; Declan Hearne, Chief Natural Resource Management-Catholic Relief Service (Philippines); and Dr. Rahman Elfitre, Senior Lecturer of the Institute for Environment and Development of the University Kebangsaan Malaysia, to help local efforts at conservation.

Hearne, also of the foreign funding agency Surfaid International, shared his experience in a project in Sumatra dubbed “Community-Led Total Sanitation” that provided about 200 latrines in 8 communities in a conservation area, where residents relieve feces just about anywhere.

Elfitre spoke about Integrated Water Resources Management Plan now being implemented in Malaysia.

Zhou spoke about high-technology conservation efforts in China using satellites, Global Positioning System (GPS), Geographical Positioning System (GIS) and other modern tools to gather data of among others groundwater levels, movement and deposits and other hydrological scenario.

He said his institution which has the software on the geo-information technology system would like to offer the system to local environmentalists, to include training for technicians.

The one-day forum was organized here by Help (Hydrology for Environment, Life and Policy) Network chaired by Councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling. HELP is a Unesco-inspired watershed protection body with networks throughout the world.

In the forum, People Collaborating for Environment and Economic Management (PCEEM) and the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) presented results of joint study on the Talomo-Panigan-Tamugan Watershed Area to Hedcor Inc. and to the Davao City Water District.

            The Aboitiz-owned Hedcor, Inc. and the state-owned DCWD are presently locked in a legal battle over Tamugan River, one of the city’s major rivers.

            Hedcor plans to build a hydropower plant tapping Tamugan, which is also eyed by DCWD for a surface water development project. Hedcor said the hydropower plant would backstop Mindanao’s future power needs. DCWD said the Tamugan surface water project would fill in future water needs of the city and ease off pressure on the Dumoy aquifer where the water firm presently pumps out water for the city’s 1.4 million population.

            Khan said it is up to the local government to choose which project to approve, but advised local planners to adopt the principle of precaution and gather more valuable data before making a decision. He said rivers could be tapped for water and power but caution should be a primordial concern due its possible impact on the watershed area.

            The Unesco expert on watershed conservation would be sharing his expertise before city councilors during their regular session today. He may make suggestions and inputs on the Hedcor and DCWD application for endorsement which is pending at the Davao City Council.

HEDCOR, DCWD row over Tamugan River in Davao City water forum

Unesco water expert is main speaker

By ROGER M. BALANZA

            The results of a workshop by water conservation experts on the Talomo-Panigan-Tamugan Watersheds would be presented in a crucial gathering here on Monday as two utility firms are locked in battle over rights to the Tamugan River .

            The result of the collaboration between People Collaborating for Environment and Economic Management (PCEEM) and the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) would be at the center of the forum on Multiple Uses of River Basins—Tools to Harmonize Conflicting Issues to be held at the Marco Polo Hotel in Davao City .

            The Aboitiz-owned Hedcor, Inc. and the state-owned Davao City Water District (DCWD) are presently locked in a legal battle over Tamugan River , one of the city’s major rivers.

            Hedcor plans to build a hydropower plant tapping Tamugan, which is also eyed by DCWD for a surface water development project. Hedcor said the hydropower plant would backstop Mindanao ’s future power needs. DCWD said the Tamugan surface water project would fill in future water needs of the city and ease off pressure on the Dumoy aquifer where the water firm presently pumps out water for the city’s 1.4 million population.

            Davao City councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling said the PCEEM-DOST paper on Strategy Development for Sustainable Use and Collaborative Management on the city watershed areas would enjoy top billing in the water forum to be joined by water experts from the United Nations Educational and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and three other foreign experts on water conservation.

            Cabling, chair of the Hydrology for Life, Environment and Policy (HELP-Davao), said the Davao City hopes to gain valuable inputs from the forum as the local government faces a dilemma over which of the projects of the two firms it would endorse. HELP-Davao organized the forum with funds from UNESCO.

            Cabling is author of the landmark Davao City Watershed Protection, Conservation and Management Ordinance also known as the Watershed Code. The code has declared Tamugan as a conservation area that banned all commercial development projects in the area. The projects need the endorsement of the Davao City Council, which must amend the code to allow projects like that of Hedcor and DCWD.

            Cabling said water conservation expert Dr. Shahbaz Khan, UNESCO International Hydrological Programme head, would be coming to share inputs in the forum. Also joining the event are three other experts from China , Malaysia and the US .

            Dr. Khan, now based in France , had helped organize HELP-Davao, now headed by Cabling, along with other HELP networks in Asia while Unesco’s water management consultant in Southeast Asia years back.

            HELP is Unesco’s development arm aiming to protect the world’s water sources, and has a program on technical exchanges and cross visits. Three years ago, Cabling and Councilor Leonardo Avila observed water situations Australia under the sponsorship of Unesco, which was followed by Cabling’s lone trip to South Africa for a tour of water conservation projects.

            With the output from the experts, we hope to be able to find guidance in making our choice, said Cabling who chaired the environment committee when he crafted the Watershed Code.

Surprises to mark congress race in Davao City

Will Cabling do an Ungab?

Will Mayor Rodrigo Duterte name a new face to run for Congress in 2010 in the Second District as he did in 2007 when he picked out former city councilor Isidro Ungab from nowhere to make him Congressman of the Third District?

Or to put in bluntly, is city councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling on the way to the route that Ungab took in 2007?

Flashback: Days ago Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, the head of the local ruling bloc Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod, was spotted at a local hotel in serious discussion with outgoing Second District Congressman Vince Garcia and Cabling. Garcia is grooming his sister, lawyer Mylen Garcia-Albano to fill in his shoes when he ends his term in 2010. Cabling is among three names that included retiring city councilors Danilo Dayanghirang and Diosdado Mahipus considered potential bets for the congressional post under the opposition-alligned Duterte bloc—if Vince would have Mylen run under the administration Lakas-Kampi-CMD party headed here by Speaker Prospero Nograles. 

Questions. Questions. Were they talking about politics? A little birdie told me yes. Was Vince asked by Mayor Duterte under which party Mylen would run?  Or was Vince asked to run for vice mayor as running mate of Vice Mayor Sara Duterte? If Vince said yes, would he push Mylen’s congressional bid? If Vince said no, who then would Mayor Duterte choose to run for Congress in the Second District?

In 2007, Mayor Duterte was cracking his head who to field in the Third District congressional race against Rene Lopez, brother of last-termer Ruy Elias Lopez. But despite the still formidable Lopez machinery in place, he made Ungab a congressman in a race that made the Lopez brothers—son of former Mayor Elias B. Lopez, one of the politicians that helped Mayor Duterte win his first mayoral bid in 1988—eat dust. 

Back to the Second District. If Vince would opt to accept the offer of Mayor Duterte—if indeed there as such offer and Mylen would forego with her congressional bid—to run for vice mayor, the next move would be for the mayor to choose who from among Cabling, Dayanghirang and Mahipus would be running for the post left vacant by Vince.

The scoreboard: Mahipus and Dayanghirang have recently been mired in a bribery scandal involving some councilors shaking down investors in exchange for approval of their business applications. The bribery has been confirmed no less by Vice Mayor Sara Duterte and she reportedly has the names of the councilors involved furnished by the “victims.” when she conducted her own investigation on the scandal.

The two councilors also have made it known in public that they would gun for the congressional post—with or without Mayor Duterte’s support—with Vince, who still commands a formidable machine built up by his father veteran Congressman Manuel “Nonoy” Garcia, no longer in competition.

Mahipus could also be comfortable if he is not chosen by Mayor Duterte having the luxury of two political options: one, to run for congress under the Nograles banner or for the vice mayoral post also under the Speaker’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD party.

Dayanghirang has always been considered publicly as “unparliamentary material”–based on his performance at the city council—which could matter much when Mayor Duterte take the public pulse as barometer for choosing his candidate. Dayanghirang has also said he may push his bid as an independent if he does not get the nod of Mayor Duterte.

Speculation. Would it be Cabling then?

Cabling, who has still a term to go in the city council, has opened himself to possibility of running on three conditions: one, if there is no Garcia running for Congress in the coming polls; two,  if a Garcia runs under the Nograles party; three, if he is picked by Mayor Duterte.

If Vince was offered the vice mayoral slot which he accepted, who will be Mayor Rody’s bet for Congress in the Second District?

The question, my friend, can be answered by Vice Mayor Sara Duterte, who is running for mayor in May, and who we heard had been given by Mayor Duterte the right to choose her line-up. Would Sara have a congressional bet involved in a bribery scandal soiling her slate?

  

Vice Mayor affirms trust on Cabling

Sara turns down plan to

break up housing body

By ROGER M. BALANZA

 

            Vice Mayor Sara Duterte has shot down a proposal to break up the Davao City Council committee on housing, rural and urban development into three committees, in an apparent expression of confidence on councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling who heads the committee.

MAYOR RODY DUTERTE and

VICE MAYOR SARA during the

2007 campaign period. Who would

they field for the congressional race

in the Second District in 2010?

            The proposal was presented by Cabling himself during last week’s mid-year planning session of the 27-member legislative body held at the Palos Verdes clubhouse. Duterte said on television Sunday said a sub-committee however would be formed to unburden Cabling of the gargantuan task of tackling by himself the broad spectrum of concerns of housing.

            As agreed during the planning session, Cabling would remain as chair of the committee but would limit himself to working on socialized housing concerns. The subcommittee would be tasked with hearing applications for high-end subdivisions and issuance of special permits and other urban housing development issues.

              Cabling has authored the landmark City Shelter Code which would address acute socialized housing needs and other concerns of the urban poor, and sits in the Local Housing Board, the implementing arm of the city urban land reform program.

            The Cabling committee is the busiest committee in the council and consistently tops the annual performance reports of the council.

            In his proposal to split the housing body, Cabling proposed the creation of three committees with the specific separate task of handling urban poor housing, high-end subdivisions; and special permits and review of the 1996 zoning ordinance.

            Cabling said he welcomed Duterte’s denial adding that the formation of the sub-committee would allow him to concentrate on the need of the urban poor for socialized housing.

 

A triumph for the homeless

P100M for urban poor housing in Davao City P3 billion loan

By ROGER M. BALANZA

Davao City’s homeless urban poor would not be left out in the coming P3 billion bank loan of the city government, with P100 million of the loan earmarked for socialized housing programs.

The Davao City Council last week gave authority to Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to take out the loan, the biggest ever by the city government, to fund developmental projects.

Councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling said councilors, requested by Duterte to identify projects to be financed by the loan, okayed his recommendation that P100 million of the loan be utilized to fund socialized housing for the urban poor.

Cabling, chair of the committee on housing, rural and urban development, said housing fund would be handled by the City Local Housing Board, the body tasked by the City Shelter Code to handle socialized housing.

The landmark Shelter Code authored by Cabling, aims to address urban housing woes targeting homeless families living as informal settlers in government and private lands.

Under its Urban Land Reform Program in compliance with the Urban Housing Development Act (UDHA), Duterte had allocated about P500 million in purchase of relocation sites and loan assistance to on-site settlers of lands whose owners agreed to sell.

The P100 million fund for housing is the second biggest news for our poor homeless families, said Cabling, adding the Shelter Code approved only this year was warmly welcomed by informal settlers, NGOs working with the homeless and the public.

The Shelter Code, chaired by Duterte, was crafted by Cabling with the help of urban poor associations and NGOs tackling urban poor housing.

Cabling watershed code goes into full steam

Barangay captains in key role
in watershed protection
By ROGER M. BALANZA

 Barangay captains would be playing central role in watershed protection and would undergo a seminar supervised by the Watershed Management Council (WMC).

 This developed as the city government preps up for full implementation of the Watershed Protection, Conservation and

Management Ordinance in a bid to enhance the health of the watershed areas.

The WMC chaired by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is the implementing body of the landmark ordinance authored by Councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling.

 Antonio Boquiren, technical assistant of City Administrator Wendel Avisado who co-chairs the WMC, said the seminar would focus on the role of the barangay captains and members of their barangay council who are also members of the Barangay Watershed Council, another body created by the ordinance.

 Avisado said the success of the implementation of the ordinance would partly rest on the shoulders of the barangay officials who are at the same time members of the Multi-Partite Monitoring Team, the body created by the code to monitor violations at ground level.

 Cabling crafted the ordinance last year while chair of the

committee on environment and natural resources. City Hall last month approved its Implementing Rules and Regulations last month paving the way for its full implementation.

A salient point of the landmark ordinance is the Environmental Tax of P.50 centavos per hectare slapped on agribusiness in watershed areas of 50 hectares and above. The annual tax expected to raise revenues of P25 million would be used to fund the city’s environmental conservation and protection programs in the watershed areas.

End comes for Akyat Barko girls in Davao City

By ROGER M. BALANZA

Owners of 13 houses declared as squatting on public land offered only token opposition as government demolition crews descended Friday on what remains of the squatters colony to demolish the houses in Ilang, Bunawan in Davao City.

The clearing operations in Sto. Nino village also known as Sikatoy completes a socialized housing program initiated by councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling and his father Ilang barangay captain Romeo Cabling to relocate about 150 families in the coastal village sandwiched between the Tefasco and Unifrutti wharves at the mouth of Awad Creek. The settlers were in constant threat of tidal waves and flooding from the creel, posing danger to lives and property.

A survey by the city housing office showed the remaining settlers refused to move out fearing lose of their businesses like videoke bars, money lending operations and boarding houses. Sikatoy is known as home of the Akyat Barko girls catering to foreign crewmen docking at the Tefasco and Unifrutti wharves where export Cavendish bananas are loaded. The survey showed the recalcitrant squatters could not benefit from socialized housing offered by City Hall as they own houses elsewhere.

One hundred forty-two of 150 informal settlers had already voluntarily demolished their houses to transfer to free relocation sites in Upper Ilang, but the nine recalcitrant settlers who owned the 13 houses refused the offer.

City administrator Wendel Avisado gave the go-signal for the demolition saying the court has not issued a restraining order to carry out the demolition approved by the Local Housing Board and the Committee on Squatting Syndicate and Professional Squatters.

The demolition was briefly marred by a barricade to prevent the demolition set up by the informal settlers backed by members of a militant urban poor organization. The demolition job however resumed after police asked the militants to move out. The brief encounter also led to the confiscation of a handgun from a military personnel who was not immediately identified who is said to be a relative of one of the squatters.

Barangay captain Cabling said a fishlanding with livelihood facilities would be set up in the area. Councilor Cabling, who chairs the council committee on housing, rural and urban development, lammented that the recalcitrant squatters had thrown a mpnkey wrench to Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s socialized housing program.