TUBA, Benguet – Some five thousand housing units will be constructed under the government’s Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program within a 6.4-hectare property owned by the Baguio city government at sitio Topinao, barangay Poblacion here.
The housing units measuring 24 to 27 square meters each will be situated in several condominium-type structures that will be erected within the said property with an estimated project cost of more than P1 billion.
The project recently broke ground in the presence of Undersecretary Welfredo Mallari, Assistant Secretary Krsnadasi de Leon, Assistant Secretary Tiburcio Canlas and regional director Mary Amoroso of the Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development (DHSUD), Baguio City Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong, Tuba Mayor Clarita Sal-ngan, Itogon Mayor Bernard Waclin, city and municipal councilors and representatives of government agencies and private institutions.
Pab-Ibig chief executive officer Marilene Acosta, who represented DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar during the groundbreaking ceremony, expressed the agency’s gratitude to the Baguio City government and partner agencies for their contributions in the eventual realization of the said project that will contribute in helping address the existing housing backlog not only in the region but also in the whole country.
At present, the country has a backlog of some 6.5 million housing units where there are some 3.7 million informal settlers and 2.8 million gainfully employed individuals that need affordable housing for their families.
In the Cordillera, Amoroso disclosed that there is a backlog of some 129,000 housing units with the city accounting for some 19,999 units for the homeless families.
The Marcos administration envisions putting up some 1 million affordable housing units annually until 2028 to be able to address the existing backlog on housing in the different parts of the country.
DSHUD was able to enter into separate memoranda of understanding with some 130 partner local governments from the different parts of the country for the realization of the government’s goal of building some 1 million affordable housing units for the homeless Filipinos.
Earlier, the Baguio city government purchased the 6.4-hectare property from a private individual supposedly for the put up of a techno hub but the local government decided to house the same for housing with the support of the national government through the DHSUD which is in charge of the government’s numerous housing projects.
The DHSUD is still ascertaining the height of the structures that will be constructed within the property to ensure that the condominium-type buildings will be able to accommodate the 5,000 affordable housing units which will be offered to the members of the informal sector and gainfully employed individuals wanting to avail of the said units for the housing needs of their families.
