No Badjao left transitory site

This refers to the news article “Woes prompt Badjao folk to flee Zambo bunkhouses” (Across the Nation, 1/8/15).

Please take note that the city government of Zamboanga is doing the best it can to give the affected families a more dignified temporary shelter with the necessary services and facilities built in accordance with existing standards, and ultimately permanent housing based on the “build back better” concept.

Allow me to make some clarifications:

• Based on record, no Badjao or internally displaced families have left the Masepla transitory site as of Jan. 14.

• The transfer of IDPs (internally displaced persons) from evacuation centers to a TS (transitory site) depends on the level of completion of the infrastructures that include houses, roads and utilities. The transfer takes place after a series of social preparations and look-see visits to target shelters.

• For a TS to be a welcome site, basic services such as light and water, including road access, should be available to allow IDPs to continue livelihood activities and pave the way for other livelihood opportunities.

• Masepla I houses 834 families while Masepla II houses 53 families as of today. Living conditions at the grandstand leave much to be desired and have to be addressed as soon as possible to avoid risk to lives. The Masepla TS provides better living conditions than the grandstand and any improvement, no matter how small it may seem, may mean a difference between life and death to people in vulnerable situations.

• The P50 million is part of the Post-Conflict and Needs Assessment fund that is with the Department of Public Works and Highways, not with the Department of Social Welfare and Development. It is intended for improving the TS to include requirements for water, light, desludging of latrines, construction of boardwalk facilities and road right of way. The DSWD has committed to follow up the release with the DPWH.

• The 43 families (from Masepla TS) who turned up at the Cawa-cawa Boulevard last Jan. 2 was to show sympathy and demand for the release of their husbands who were apprehended by Maritime policemen for dynamite fishing, which is illegal. They have since returned to the TS.

• Roundup activities in the city proper targeting mendicants yielded two to three families from Masepla (particularly mothers with children).

• Ramada Jose, who was interviewed in the story, is an IDP staying in Zone D grandstand. She used to be a Women Friendly Space facilitator under contract with the Social Action Center, funded by the UNFPA. The project ended Oct. 31, 2014.

• Per recommendations from the City Social Welfare and Development Office, the DSWD will continue relief assistance (food packs to three TS twice a month) not just for Masepla but all TS and evacuation centers from January to June 2015.

The city relies fully on the national government for the implementation of the Z3R plan and we are hopeful that the June 2015 timeline will be realized.

We are very grateful but we continuously seek the support and assistance of the national government, humanitarian partners, the IDPs and the constituents in general to help us build back a better Zamboanga.

—MARIA ISABELLE “BENG”
CLIMACO-SALAZAR, mayor, Zamboanga City