Monday, December 1, 2014

NDRRM looks into status of Rio-Hondo, Mariki areas



ZAMBOANGA CITY (ZNS) -  The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management or NDRRM oversight committee in the House of Representatives will try to find a solution to the status of the land in what is called ground zero at Rio Hondo and its nearby barangays.
NDRRM Chairman Congressman Rodolfo Biazon said the government must reconcile the ownership of the lands in these barangays.
There exists several Prudential Decrees and Executive Orders that define the status of the area.
The official declarations cover the barrios of Rio Hondo and Mariki.
Biazon said the executive orders covering the status of these lands could be easily modified but in the case of any Presidential Decree this takes the nature of a Law that needs to be amended by Congresses and approved by the President.
There is said to exist a presidential decree that classifies these areas as resettlements sites for natives who settled there.
On the other hand, some people own titles to portions of the land.
The problem arises because the government plans to take over parts of the area for a military camp, for roads and other projects and land titles must be modified for the purpose.
The government has refused to allow residents to return to their homes or what remained of their homes or to construct houses in their former areas they used to occupy all these years.
Thousands of homes in the two barangays and in the barrios of Sta. Barbara, Sta. Catalina and Kasanyangan were destroyed by fires at the height of the rebel attack of these areas last year.
Local officials also want to apply to the area a so called “No Build Zone” which is a particular area from the shorelines as a deterrent against sea surges and the likes.
The homes there were not destroyed by tidal waves or storm surges but by fires that were not put out and left to burn out while fighting was going on in the area.

Apparently these “No Build Zones” does not apply to the adjacent Colleges, Paseo del Mar and other shoreline areas in the coastal lines of the city from Licomo to Limpapa.(ZNS)  (110714)

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