Davao City, Philippines— The National Housing Authority (NHA) rebranded its housing projects to BALAI Filipino, dubbed as Building Adequate Liveable Affordable Inclusive for Filipino communities since the Duterte administration.
NHA General Manager Marcelino Escalada Jr. in the recently concluded signing of the Memorandum of Agreement for the housing of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP), said the tenants living in houses made available by NHA before were complaining that houses are not presentable, located in a distant area from their work places and small in terms of floor area.
With that realities, the BALAI Filipino’s objective is to provide houses with improved features and has the amenities of the commercial housing projects.
All BALAI projects are not equipped with amenities, such as day care center, sports facilities, community center, “We are building a community not just houses,” Escaclada stressed.
Housing projects have tiled flooring, house partitions set, closer to work places of beneficiaries and bigger area from 30 square meters to 36 and 42 sq. meters.
Aside from being liveable and affordable, the BALAI Filipino aims to construct houses that are durable and safe to the tenants.
Escalada said that the designs of the houses undergo several stages of accreditation from involved stakeholders such as NHA, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), contractors and professional group to ensure high quality of the houses.
One of BALAI Filipino projects is the Madayaw Residences located in Barangay Bangkal, Talomo District, Davao City with 640 units for qualified AFP and PNP personnel.
The units are estimated to be completed in December 2019. The units will be divided as 45 percent allocated for AFP, 45 percent for PNP and 10 percent for personnel in Bureau of Fire Protection, Bureau of Jail and Management and Penology and Bureau of Corrections. More than 2,000 AFP and PNP personnel applied for the 640 units. Both the AFP and PNP Housing Boards will be screening the applicants for the housing project.
“Accept this gift as a token from the Duterte administration to the men and women in uniform. This is our humble offering,” Escalada stressed as in his inspiration message.
Moreover, teh NHA is looking for more sites to build more BALAI Filipino projects to cater to the need of the pending applicants.
Escalada said as it is now more than 2,000 units in up for construction in Davao for AFP and PNP personnel as part of the BALAI Filipino housing project.-Pia Duran/Newsline.ph
