Romualdez: Marcos admin’s housing program will help address backlog

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. leads the groundbreaking for the 11-hectare housing project under the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino program together with Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito (left), Speaker Martin Romualdez (second from left), Palayan City Mayor Viandrei Nicole “Vianne” J. Cuevas (third from right), Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar (second from right), and Government Service and Insurance System (GSIS) President and General Manager Jose Arnulfo “Wick” Veloso (right) in Brgy. Atate in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija, on Wednesday, December 21, 2022. Photo from the Office of the House Speaker

MANILA, Philippines — Speaker Martin Romualdez on Wednesday lauded Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s groundbreaking of a housing project in Nueva Ecija.

The government aims to build 11,000 housing units on a Pag-IBIG housing site in Barangay Atate in Palayan City under its Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino program.

The groundbreaking event was called “Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino: Pamaskong Handog ni Pangulong Bongbong Marcos at ng Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).”

Romualdez accompanied his cousin, President Marcos, during the event.

“Building 6 million houses is the target of President Marcos Jr., I am very confident we can achieve this through our unity in purpose and the cooperation of all stakeholders in the program,” the Speaker of the House of Representatives said.

The Marcos administration plans to build one million houses annually through June 2028, when he steps down from the presidency.

“Six million houses may be just another target to accomplish, but imagine giving six million families houses they can call their own. That is not only addressing the housing backlog,” Romualdez said.

READ: Gov’t pledges 1 million homes every year

According to DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar, 44 towers with about 11,000 housing units will be constructed in the 11-hectare Palayan City Township. The development is composed of three phases.

Acuzar also said that the master plan for the Palayan City housing project incorporates facilities and amenities such as an elementary school, livelihood center, administrative offices, central park, basketball court, mini-market and hawker area, aquaponics, sewage treatment plant, and materials recovery facility.

“President Marcos is addressing the country’s woes on all fronts almost simultaneously: food security, foreign investments, jobs and livelihood, public order and safety, health and social protection, and now social services like housing,” Romualdez said.

The DHSUD warned that the country’s housing backlog, if not addressed now, may hit almost 11 million by the end of the Marcos administration.

READ: Housing backlog to hit 11 million units sans funding

The government hopes to arrest that dangerous trend by constructing 6 million housing units until 2028.