DAVAO CITY — DAVAO CITY —- The National Housing Authority (NHA) outlined the government’s housing plans by presenting a clear housing roadmap that included thousands of housing units for state employees as well as low-income families.
“Mr. President, we are very proud to report to you that there are only two administrations across the seven presidents,” Marcelino P. Escalada Jr. told President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday while presenting his agency’s accomplishments. ” First, during Marcos’ and your administration’s stints, there was a very clear housing roadmap.”
According to Escalada, the NHA, being the production arm of the Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development (DHSUD), built 336,493 housing units from 2016 to 2021.
He proudly told the President “This number of housing units is over and above the 129,893 units constructed by the agency. All the housing units were disposed of, awarded, and occupied.
Escalada’s effort to deliver the expectation of the President is also appreciated by Marawi City Mayor Majul Gandamra who told Newsline “They responded so fast and the NHA is culturally sensitive in their acts as you can see here in Marawi.”
The housing agency was able to complete 894,000 projects and managed to collect P13.6 billion through the agency’s monthly collections from all the awarded and occupied housing units and also from leasable lots under the Commercial Industrial Estates of the NHA.
At the same time, he said that the NHA has already completed 8,419 units for the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP). The construction of 12,289 shelters is also ongoing.
NHA hopes to finish all the housing projects by June of 2022, before the end of the President’s term.
The NHA also signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to expand its housing program for the country’s overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), whose dream is at least to have their own houses.
NHA’s next project is the resettlement for informal settlers families (ISFs) affected by the Supreme Court Mandamus to clean up the Manila Bay, Escalada said.
This involved seven provinces along the Manila Bay: Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Bulacan, Tarlac, Pampanga, and Bataan, all of which have major river basins and tributaries going to the Manila Bay.
The NHA has already built 13,423 housing units, while there are 7,526 undergoing construction.
“So for the Region IV and Region III — Cavite, Rizal, Laguna — we have 10,000 already completed; 5,437 ongoing. For Region III, comprising of Bataan, Pampanga, Tarlac, and Bulacan, we have 2,641 completed,” Escalada reported.
The NHA chief also mentioned the resettlement assistance to the local government units (LGUs). Upon the President’s directive, the NHA has increased its assistance to LGUs, doubling the P12-million grant for 5th and 6th class cities and municipalities.
The housing agency now extends a P25-million grant to all LGUs having housing problems. For first to 4th class municipalities and cities and provinces, from P24 million, the NHA now provides a P50-million grant.
To date, NHA has completed 16,755 units for the LGUs, while 183 projects are being finalized, Escalada said.
To support the Local Task Forces to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) and the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) of the Office of the National Defense, NHA has carried out an aggressive campaign to provide shelter to indigenous peoples (IPs).
“We will concentrate our IP housing because this is the most vulnerable sector for the recruitment of the CPP-NPA. So most of our IP housing right now is a back-to-back program of E-CLIP and ELCAC,” Escalada said.
So far, the NHA has completed 5,328 units for the IPs, with around 118 projects implemented by the current administration alone.
He pointed out that 65 percent of all the IP housing projects were implemented by the administration.
