City Council bypasses DWUP, asks national agency’s help
Cebu City’s Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) chief opposes council’s move to ask a presidential commission to validate lists of urban poor housing beneficiaries, says it’s pointless
CEBU City councilors want the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP), and not the City Government’s Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP), to revalidate the list of the beneficiaries of the City’s socialized housing program.
In a letter addressed to PCUP officials, City Councilor Alvin Dizon sought the agency’s help with the revalidation process.
Dizon, chairman of the City Council’s committee on housing, also sought a public hearing to be conducted in the socialized housing sites. The validation will be conducted during a public hearing.
But the council’s move did not sit well with DWUP chief Collin Rosell. He said that asking PCUP to conduct the revalidation process is questionable and would be pointless.
“It’s pointless because first, it’s DWUP that has a record of the masterlist. Second, we belong to the same local government unit that owns the property,” said Rosell said in an interview yesterday.
He added that DWUP is the only implement- ing office for housing and livelihood concerns of the city’s urban poor.
Rosell said that even if PCUP compiles a validated list of housing beneficiaries, the City will still not use it because the records that it will acknowledge are those of DWUP. The council, he added, will only delay the process.
“They need not to complicate things. It seems that to them, I’m not reliable,” he said.
Earlier, DWUP and the Local Housing Board asked the council to authorize Mayor Michael Rama to enter into and sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with beneficiaries of the socialized housing projects.
They also asked to authorize Rama to sign a conditional contract to sell to homeowners associations and their members who still have no contracts, and those who have applied for restructuring of loans and condonation of penalties.
The council deferred the approval of both resolutions after learning that the masterlist of the beneficiaries are not updated and are inaccurate, and includes names of individuals who are already dead.