President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. leads groundbreaking ceremony of housing project in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija, on Dec. 21, 2022. (Photo from RTVM livestream)
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday led the groundbreaking ceremony of the 11-hectare housing project in Palayan City in Nueva Ecija, saying the project is part of his administration’s efforts to build one million houses every year in the next six years.
In his speech, Marcos said the project in Nueva Ecija is one of many projects across the country that his administration will yet to break ground.
“I hope that we’ll continue at this rate at kailangan na kailangan nating gawin ito. This is one of the many actually that we have that we are going to break ground and I hope soon,” he said.
(I hope that we’ll continue at this rate and we really need this.)
“We will continue to break ground in different parts around the country para naman ‘yung ating pinapangarap na one million homes a year pagka-naabot natin, at least napakalaking bagay na ‘yan na nabigyan natin ng solusyon ang problema ng pabahay ang ating mga kababayan,” the President added.
(We will continue to break ground in different parts around the country so that we can achieve our goal of building one million homes a year and this will help in the country’s housing problem.)
The housing project in Nueva Ecija is expected to generate 11,000 housing units, a new school, market, among other community facilities.
President Bongbong Marcos leads the groundbreaking for the 11-hectare housing project in Palayan City in Nueva Ecija. @inquirerdotnet pic.twitter.com/FDP8r3ZSIT
— Daphne Galvez (@daphnegalvez_) December 21, 2022
Role of local government units in housing
The President also highlighted the role of local government units (LGUS) in the administration’s efforts to improve housing in the country, saying the national government could not accomplish its goal without the help of localities.
He said the LGUs are the ones that pinpoint areas where housing units can be built and even help the national government in the financing of the projects.
“All of these things have to come together. Hindi kakayanin ng national agency ito kung hindi nagkakaugnayan sa LGU kaya’t kaya naman magiging successful ito,” Marcos said.
(The national agency cannot do this without coordinating with the LGUs so I am confident that our efforts will be successful.)
Marcos Jr. earlier vowed that his administration will “try very, very hard” to achieve its ambitious goal to build 1 million low-cost housing units every year until the end of his term.