Pampanga relocation sites ready for 8,750 railway families

MANILA, Philippines — Three relocation sites in Pampanga province are now ready to accommodate 8,750 families displaced by Phase 2 of the Northrail project, Vice President Noli de Castro said Tuesday. He said the three relocation sites, located in Barangay Calulut in San Fernando; Barangay Cutud in Angeles, and Barangay Atlu Bola in Mabalacat, can accommodate the displaced families starting March. "Construction of houses will start immediately as soon as its development is completed. They shall be turned over to the beneficiaries as they arrive in the relocation sites," said de Castro, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC). De Castro inspected the Pampanga relocation sites last Sunday. “The President has instructed me to proceed with the clearing of the Pampanga segment to pave its way for the development of Phase 2 of the Northrail project. Our timetable for relocation in these sites will be from March to July. We will just give make sure that schools will already be available and operational by then," he said in a press statement. Some 12,257 informal settlers (squatters) in San Fernando, Angeles and Mabalacat are set to be transferred to the resettlement areas. He said some 8,750 families who have complete transfer documents and volunteered to be relocated can already be accommodated in these sites. The biggest relocation site, according to de Castro, is the Northville 16 in Mabalacat with a total land area of 26 hectares. “It can already receive 3,578 of its more than 5,729 beneficiaries followed by Northville 14 in San Fernando which can now accommodate 3,961 out of the 4,312 families it intends to shelter. On the other hand, 1,688 families out of the 2,216 families registered for Northville 15 can already be relocated," De Castro said. - GMANews.TV