Gov't to evict households clogging Manila waterways by August - Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines -- President Benigno S. Aquino III said Wednesday that the government will remove some 11, 000 families clogging the waterways in Metro Manila by August this year.

Aquino said that his administration has initially set aside P10 billion to move urban poor families away from the danger zones in the capital area.

So far, he said some 3,400 families had been moved to safer communities, with another 11,000 families within three meters of waterways being targeted by August.

"Our efforts are focused on providing residents with safe homes, clean waterways and a long-term solution against flooding in Metro Manila," he said in a speech after inspecting a micro medium-rise building in Manila's Sampaloc district.

He said the government is eyeing 167 informal settler families living in waterways as beneficiaries of the micro medium-rise building.

Tens of thousands of poor families are living in the slum districts alongside the waterways in Metro Manila. The Aquino administration tried to relocate 100,000 families of informal settlers in the metropolis in five years, but the plan was resisted by those settlers because of the meager compensation.

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