SAN JOSE, Antique – At least 257 households considered as informal settlers in Antique will be relocated starting April to pave way for the completion of the Malandog River Rehabilitation and Development Project (MRRDP).
According to Eby Butiong, secretary of
the Antique Provincial Government Housing Board, they have
found a five-hectare relocation site in Barangay Mapatag here for the informal
settlers living along the Malandog River and its adjacent Barangay Maybato Sur
of this capital town also.
“The Malandog River Rehabilitation and Development Project was supposed to be completed already in 2019, but because of the difficulty of looking for a relocation site, the informal settlers could not be moved out,” he said.
Last April 2019, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) approved the relocation site in Barangay Mapatag after inspecting its safety.
After the MGB’s approval of the land, the Antique provincial government passed a Supplemental Budget in the amount of P6 million to purchase it.
“The relocation site in the amount of P6
million is the counterpart of the provincial government to the project,” Butiong
said.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), which is the major
implementing agency, on the other hand, has allocated P45 million for the
MRRDP.
To recall, DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu claimed that the Malandog River needed to be rehabilitated because of the human wastes that cause high coliform count.
“Aside that the project is intended to address the biodiversity problem in the area, it is also aimed to make Malandog into an eco-tourism destination in Antique,” Butiong said.
The DENR constructed a 221.6 lineal meter slope protection starting last March 2018. “The slope protection is now 98 percent completed on the Malandog side,” he added.
The boulevard in Barangay Maybato, meanwhile, has yet to start construction due to the fact that the informal settlers have to be moved out from its area first.
Malandog is the first settlement site of our Malayan Ancestors.(With a report from PNA/PN)