The Bacolod Housing Authority re-awarded 10 vacant lots in the Brgy. Vista Alegre-Granada relocation site in Bacolod City last month to other qualified squatter families after its previous awardees failed to build their homes on them after a year.

The vacant lots were awarded between January to May, 2005 to Tito Serbano, Tessie Jope, Norma Albaran, Edna Gomez, Gonzalo Camarite, Patrocenia Evangelista, Pedro Garlitos, Eugenio Espedido, Rosalie Gardoce and Edita Sepe.

Three more vacant lots are now being prepared by the city to be re-awarded to other qualified squatter families.

"We are only following the policy of the city," BHA head Josephine Segundino said yesterday. She said City Ordinance 269, which defines the city's policy concerning relocation sites, provides that the lots should be occupied by qualified squatter families one month after these are awarded to them.

Segundino said the awardees had been informed at the start that if they fail to put up their structures after a month, their awards will be automatically cancelled without prior notice. She said the city had, in fact, been liberal to them.

Segundino said the awardees should inform her office if they could not put up their structures. Their situation can then be treated on a case-to-case basis, she said. The city has very limited lots, so if the awardees could not occupy them, these will be re-awarded to those who have immediate need of them, she said.

If the awardees want to ask for consideration, they can write the Mayor, she added.*CGS

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