Mandaue Fire Victims Sees A Spark of Hope as Cebu Landmasters Breaks Ground on Tipolo Residences

After a fire broke in Guizo, Mandaue City in 2016, Grace Mangubat’s family was among the displaced families and temporarily sought shelter at the grounds of Cebu International Convention Center.

They lived in makeshift homes made of scrap wood, used tarpaulins, and overlapping roof panels made of corrugated iron sheets.

They thought it would be temporary while they were rebuilding their home and will be getting their usual way of living before 2016 ends but almost six years passed, and they are still staying in the make-shift village on the CICC grounds.

“Life was hard, especially since we don’t earn enough to buy materials to start over after our house was caught on fire,” said Mangubat in Cebuano.

Mangubat, 67 years old, is currently taking care of her grandchildren ages 4,5,6,10, and 12, and solely rely on her husband, Noe, a trisikad driver, for their daily needs while the parents of her grandchildren are also looking for ways to put food on the table.

Just when Mangubat felt that it is impossible for them to start a new life living a decent home, they receive shocking news that they were among the 90 beneficiaries of the Cebu Landmasters conventional hybrid construction of the 90-unit Tower 4 of the Tipolo Residences.

The 24.79 sqm-unit of Tipolo Residences, a mid-rise socialized housing building in Mandaue City, is intended for the victims of the 2016 Guizo and Mantuyong fire as well as the 2019 Tipolo fire who were temporarily living on the grounds of CICC said attorney John Biton, the head of the city’s Housing Urban and Development Office.

CLI applies active and passive green design features to both projects. All units are situated to receive a sufficient amount of daylight, reducing energy use. In addition, the ground floor units and common area spaces are lifted to allow cross ventilation. A large self-watering green wall is also integrated to provide cooling.

The said medium-rise housing project in Mandaue City is CLI’s socialized housing compliance in partnership with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) to make available affordable and decent housing and basic services to the underprivileged and homeless settlers.

The CLI and Cebu Landmasters Foundation teams work closely with the local government of Mandau City in the social preparation process and give recommendations on the rental, tenure, house rules, guidelines, and property management.

CLI has more than 100 projects in different stages of development for high-end, mid, and economic markets in 15 key cities in Visayas and Mindanao.

As a matter of fact, after 12 months, CLI turned over the P115 million medium-rise building called “Walk-Up Sugbo 1” to the Cebu City government on June 29, 2022

The 100 units building is located on a 1,350 sqm property in barangay Lorega-San Miguel.