VP NOLI COMPLETES CLEARING OF STA. CRUZ, MANILA RAILWAY
April 20, 2008

With the relocation of the last ten informal settler families living along the railroad tracks in Sta. Cruz, Manila, Vice President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairman Noli “Kabayan” de Castro turned over the cleared alignment of the Sta. Cruz segment of the South Manila Commuter Rail to the PNR.

De Castro announced the completion of the clearing operations in the Sta. Cruz segment last April 18 after his inspection of the area, which, indeed, has been completely cleared of all structures.

A total of 910 families have been relocated from their informal settler communities in seven barangays since the start of the operations in September 2007.

Of these families, 903 were transferred to their new homes in Bulacan (Marilao and San Jose del Monte) and Cavite (Trece Martires). The remaining seven families received financial assistance to return to their hometowns under the Balik-Probinsya option. “No family was left behind. Everyone was taken care of,” de Castro announced.

The Vice President said that aside from providing them with shelter security, the relocated families will also be given assistance through livelihood and employment programs in the resettlement sites.

“We have partnered with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and other government agencies to provide free work training as well as employment and livelihood opportunities to the relocatees,” he said.

VP Noli also added that continued upgrading of basic facilities in the resettlement communities are being attended to, including the regular conduct of medical missions in these areas to address the health concerns of the relocatees.

“There are also various initiatives from NGOs and People’s Organizations, such as the Gawad Kalinga, the Homeless People’s Federation, academic institutions and foundations, to undertake community improvements and value formation programs,” de Castro added.

According to De Castro, the completion of clearing operations is a big step for the Northrail-Southrail linkage project, a flagship project of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, which will restore and modernize the Philippine National Railway (PNR) lines from Central Luzon to Southern Luzon .

“We are clearing the way for an important project that will spur the development of Central and Southern Luzon, as well as providing decent and secure homes for the informal settlers” he said.

“So far, we have cleared the north and southrail R-O-W of 46,040 informal settlers --- 23,173 from the northrail traversing Caloocan-North all the way to Calumpit, Bulacan, and 22,867 from the southrail mainly from the Manila-Makati-Taguig segments as well as from Cabuyao and Sta. Rosa in Laguna.

We hope to complete the clearing of the Tondo and Caloocan-South segments by end of May. Currently, we are also undertaking social preparations for affected families in the Muntinlupa and Paranaque segments,” de Castro added.

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