Search on for someone to oversee Zamboanga housing project

DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—Faced with the problem of crumbling new houses before their construction could even be completed, the city government is angling for another official to oversee the rehabilitation of Zamboanga City following the monthlong violence that levelled large areas of the city last year.

This development comes in the wake of complaints of substandard housing that surfaced following the collapse of some units being built at a housing project for Zamboanga’s “internally displaced persons’ last week.

City Planning Officer Rodrigo Sicat said the suggestion to bring in another official to focus on the rehabilitation program was initially brought up with Vice President Jejomar Binay, chair of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, during his visit to the city last Saturday.

Sicat said Binay told Zamboanga Mayor Beng Climaco that he intended to ask President Benigno Aquino III to appoint another person from the national government to focus on the Zamboanga City rehabilitation program.

He said that Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson was earlier tasked by the President to oversee the rehabilitation program, including the development of housing projects, but Singson was also busy with other government infrastructure programs.

“Thus, the need for someone to concentrate on Zamboanga City’s housing programs,” Sicat said, citing the case of Tacloban, where former Sen. Panfilo Lacson has been named rehabilitation chief.

Sicat said under their proposal, the rehabilitation officer for Zamboanga City will serve as third-party monitor for the housing projects being built by private contractors.

Currently, the monitoring is handled by the National Housing Authority.

In a recent press conference, NHA Western Mindanao Director Al Indanan admitted lapses by his office in terms of monitoring the construction of housing units, particularly at the Lustre Homeowners Subdivision in Sta. Catalina village.

More than 10,000 homes were destroyed by incessant shellings and daily fire during monthlong fighting between government security forces and renegade members of the Moro National Liberation Front in Zamboanga City in September 2013.

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