President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says that the government has already started the construction of nearly 600,000 housing units for beneficiaries of the government’s Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program. | Futch Anthony Inso
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines — The Marcos Administration has already started the construction of around 600,000 housing units for the government’s housing program.
This was confirmed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) during his visit to Cebu on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023.
Among the activities that the President has attended was the groundbreaking of a housing project under his Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program in South Road Properties (SRP), Cebu City
“Ang latest ay palapit na tayo sa 600,000. Na sa groundbreaking. Pagnatapos lahat ng gri-noundbreak natin sa housing, sa ngayon ay nasa 600,000 housing na units,” Marcos said.
(The latest number is we are near 600,000. We are still at the groundbreaking (of these projects). If these housing projects that we broke ground, for now we are at 600,000 housing units.)
President Marcos: 6M housing units
He said that he was targeting to construct 6 million housing units before his term would end or 1 million housing units per year.
“Kung hindi tayo makaabot this year. Paspasan natin next year para yung average natin mahi-hit talaga,” he said.
(If we cannot reach (the target) this year. We will make it faster next year so that we can really hit the average number of housing units.)
To also ensure that the housing units would be utilized properly, Marcos said that the units should be non-transferable.
He said that if beneficiaries would rent out their housing unit, the government might intervene and take back the housing unit and give it to a much deserving beneficiary.
Affordable monthly payment vowed
Earlier, Marcos said that beneficiaries of this program would pay an affordable monthly payment to own a house.
However, the President admitted that even if the monthly amortization would already be affordable, some poor Filipinos could not really afford this.
Marcos further said that the government, through the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), might delay the start of the payment of their amortization.
“Because precisely, wala nga silang kaya, kaya’t hahanapan natin ng mga paraan. Siguro pwedeng i-delay ng konti, titingnan natin. Maraming scheme ang ginagawa ng Human Settlements,” he said.
(Because precisely, they really could not afford it, that is why we will look for ways. Perhaps, we can delay [the start of the payments], we will see. The Human Settlements have tried a lot of schemes for that.)
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