By DIANN IVY CALUCIN
The Quezon City government and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) launched on Thursday, Sept. 22, the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino program of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. at the Harmony Hills Terraces, Barangay Batasan Hills in the city.
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte and DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar led the groundbreaking ceremony and signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) to officially launch the Marcos administration’s housing program.
Among the attendees were officials of the DHSUD’s key shelter agencies (KSAs) and representatives from the Quezon City local government.
Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino program is a housing project of the administration of President Marcos Jr., through the DHSUD, that targets to sustain shelter for over six million families in six years.
In PTV's Laging Handa public briefing on Wednesday, Sept. 14, DHSUD Assistant Secretary for Support System Avelino Tolentino III announced that the team has started to visit not only Metro Manila but also the Visayas Region to partner with local government units (LGUs).
The project aims to provide one million housing units per year from its former production of 200,000 housing units annually.
“Mahalaga po ang kooperasyon ng bawat isa para makamtan natin ang ginhawa na pinapangako ng proyektong ito. Umaasa po kami sa DHSUD na magiging kasangga namin kayo simula ngayon hanggang sa kahuli-hulihang bubong na ating ipagkakaloob para masiguro na may bahay ang bawat pamilyang Pilipino (Everyone's cooperation is important for us to achieve the comfort that this project promises. In DHSUD, we hope that you will be our partner from now until the very last roof that we will built to ensure that every Filipino family has a house)," Acuzar said during his speech.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to be the President’s emissary in sending this good news to our kababayans (compatriots) in Quezon City, and in the country as a whole – unti-unti na pong matutupad ang pangarap ng bawat pamilyang Pilipino na nagnanais magkaroon ng sariling bahay, sa pamamagitan po ng Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program (little by little the dream of every Filipino family to own a house will come true , through the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino program),” the secretary added.
Meanwhile, the Quezon City government said it will be committed to expediting the processing of required permits and licenses to be issued by local authorities for the project’s full implementation.
The city government will also be in charge of the listing of beneficiaries which will include social preparation, ISF census enumeration, socioeconomic profiling, and the establishment of social parameters.
“The MOA signing solidified our previous agreement to work hand-in-hand in building houses for the city’s residents, especially the ISFs (informal settler families),” Belmonte said.
In line with the program, the DHSUD also secured a partnership with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).
The DHSUD and DBP signed an MOU mandating a formulated loan program focused on providing real estate developmental loans in support of the agency’s housing projects.