Mayor Alfredo Benitez holds a dialog with the affected families at Purok Katilingban in Barangay Punta Taytay, Bacolod City, Wednesday afternoon.* Bacolod PIO photo
Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez defused mounting tension that could have turned violent at Purok Katilingban in Barangay Punta Taytay, Bacolod City, where a Supreme Court order for the demolition of eight houses of informal settlers was set to be enforced on Wednesday, December 14.
Benitez and City Legal Officer Romeo Carlos Ting Jr. went to the area to hold a dialog with the barangay officials, implementing sheriff Ariane Magallanes, the families whose houses were to be demolished, and the authorized representative of the possessor of the land for the temporarily halt of the demolition.
Pancho Arizala, one of the residents whose house was included in the demolition order, said the affected families agreed to voluntary leave the area by January 28.
He is thankful that they will at least be allowed to stay in the area for the Christmas and New Year holidays until a place where they can be relocated is found, Arizala said.
The situation could have turned violent, as one person in the crowd already threw a stone as tension mounted, he said.
The affected residents signed a Memorandum of Agreement that they will stay in the area only until January 28, 2023.
“We will give them a temporary and conditional solution by giving them a relocation site where they can transfer,” Benitez said on his Facebook page.*