The government’s socialized housing projects are still rolling even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development said on Wednesday, March 17.
Negros Occidental 3rdDistrict Rep. Francisco “Kiko” Benitez assured the government is continuing its housing production programs to provide adequate housing to poor families even though there have been travel restrictions imposed to curb the spike of the coronavirus cases.
“Oo naman.. there are housing projects that are continuing despite the pandemic. Pero syempre (but of course, there’s a) slowdown, there’s a slowdown but it hasn’t completely stopped,” Benitez said during the Ugnayan sa Batasan virtual forum.
Benitez, who heads the housing panel, acknowledged that while there are many existing projects that have been left in the open, an active House oversight committee is committed to look into these abandoned properties.
“There’s an active oversight committee now that will start looking at those things again,” he said.
In fact, he said the housing committee is planning to Marawi City to check the status of the permanent housing units built by the government in the war-torn city.
According to the lawmaker, the committee will also be trying to visit other places—like Zamboanga City and Cagayan de Oro City—where state housing projects remain unfinished.
“We have so many places to check out. so we will visit those cities and check the status of these housing projects,” he further said.
Last week, the House panel adopted a resolution seeking to declare a housing crisis in the country and urged Malacanang to mobilize resources to accelerate the construction of houses for underserved families.
The resolution also prods the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Developemtn and other similar agencies to undertake an inventory of idle government lands and fast-track its development and disposition for socialized housing with the help of the private sector.