BACOLOD CITY – An ordinance seeking to establish a comprehensive and sustainable development and shelter program and services for informal settlers in Bacolod City is being deliberated by the Sangguniang Panlungsod here.

It was passed on second reading last Wednesday.

Authored by Councilos El Cid Familiaran and co-authored by Councilors Dindo Ramos, Caesar Distrito, Em Ang, Mona Dia Jardin, Archie Baribar, and Roberto Rojas, the ordinance underscores the need for the city to come up with a comprehensive sustainable shelter program and services that would respond to and protect the basic rights of the homeless informal settlers.

The ordinance aims to protect them against eviction, demolition, and provide assistance to them upon transfer to relocation sites or in a place of their choice.

It also provides for the creation of a Bacolod Local Housing Board that will monitor all evictions and demolitions.

The Bacolod Local Housing Board, in coordination with the City Planning and Development Office, will create a City Registration Committee that will conduct a survey of the underprivileged and homeless citizens in Bacolod City, including the marginalized fisherfolk within six months from the effectivity of the ordinance.

The committee will include two representatives from non-government organizations servicing the urban poor in the city.For planning purposes, the Bacolod Local Housing Board, in coordination with the City Assessor's Office, will also conduct an inventory of all lands in Bacolod, especially those occupied by informal settlers, the ordinance said.*NLG