The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) broke ground in Brgy. Nangka, Marikina City on Friday, Oct. 7, for its sixth housing project in just a period of two weeks under the "Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program" to help the national government attain its goal of building one million houses every year until 2028.
Leading the joint memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing and groundbreaking ceremony, the DHSUD expressed confidence that the country’s housing need, pegged at 6.5 million, will be “definitely possible” under President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s national housing program.
“This will not be easy, but definitely possible, as we are already making significant strides in making this happen. This MoU signing and groundbreaking ceremony for land development and housing project is a concrete manifestation of that,” DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar said, talking about their aim to build and dispense six million housing units within the six-year term of Marcos.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to be emissary in sending this good news to all of you here in Marikina 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, sisikapin natin na makapagpatayo ng isang milyong bahay kada taon (little by little we are achieving the dream of every Filipino family to have their own house. Through the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program, we will strive to build one million houses per year),” the housing czar expressed during the ceremony preceded by the signing of a MOU with Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro.
From the launch of the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program last September 22, the DHSUD has already signed MoUs and broken ground in Mariveles, Bataan and in the cities of Quezon, Bacolod, Roxas, and Iloilo. Acuzar assured the eagerness of the DHSUD in fast-tracking the implementation of the said program, as evidenced by the new strategies on housing production and finance being devised by the agency to ensure that stakeholders accordingly do their duties while mutually gaining benefits from establishing housing projects.
The official said the President has been constantly monitoring the progress of housing project implementation with "a strict instruction" to ensure that the completion happens within this administration.
The DHSUD is currently engaging with other local government units across the country to further clinch MoUs for more housing projects "to effectively fulfill its mandate of providing Filipinos with decent, sustainable, and affordable homes they can call their own."