Victims of natural calamity who lost their homes as well as informal settlers in Western Visayas region can expect some relief soon after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) gave the green light for the release of P12.26 billion to the National Housing Authority (NHA).
Under the administrative supervision of the Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development, the NHA functions as a production and financing arm in housing and is the sole national agency mandated to engage in housing production for low-income families.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, in a statement, said P12.06 billion of the funds would be for housing assistance to calamity victims while P200 million would go to the construction of four units of five-story, low-rise residential buildings in Western Visayas for the resettlement of informal settler families. The provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo and Negros Occidental comprise the region.
“Housing remains a priority for President [Marcos] as he strongly believes in the necessity of providing decent homes for Filipinos, particularly those adversely affected by calamities,” Pangandaman said.
She said the request from NHA for payments, which are chargeable to previous years’ released allotments, was supported with a documented list of Special Allotment Release Orders with their respective amounts, status of fund utilization and finance accountability reports—all of which the DBM had confirmed to be in order.
Earlier this month, the government’s Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Housing Program got a boost as the Government Service Insurance System turned over to the Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC) a P258-million, 14,000-square-meter property in Sta. Mesa, Manila.
SHFC intends to build a high-rise residential project for about 1,000 families.
The project is intended for families who live in “critical zones” or areas not suitable for residence, including members of the association Ugnayang Lakas ng mga Apektadong Pamilya sa Baybaying Ilog Pasig at mga Tributaryo or Ulap-Manila.
Created in 2004 pursuant to Executive Order No. 272, SHFC is mandated to be the lead government agency to undertake social housing programs that will cater to the formal and informal sectors in the low-income bracket.