Aquino launches housing project for cops, soldiers in Bulacan

BOCAUE, Bulacan—President Benigno Aquino III led the groundbreaking rites for a housing project for policemen and soldiers on Monday, in Barangay Batia here, partly fulfilling his promise of providing decent housing for law enforcers.

Mr. Aquino said the 27-hectare Bocaue Hills housing project would ease the burden and sacrifices of policemen and soldiers who have been forced to rent houses because of their meager salaries.

“When we need people who will cross swollen rivers to save others or fight drug lords, who do we turn to? Are we not counting on our soldiers and policemen to do these tasks? But when they have problems, like housing, we can’t do anything. This is the answer to their problem of increasing house rental,” the President said in Filipino.

Mr. Aquino, in his previous speeches, vowed to look into the housing needs of personnel of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Accompanied by Vice President Jejomar Binay and local officials, Mr. Aquino inspected two houses, both painted in yellow, at the project site.

Binay, concurrent chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), said the project, undertaken by the National Housing Authority, was only part of the government’s plan to provide 20,000 houses to PNP and AFP personnel. The project sites are in Bulacan, Laguna, Rizal and Cavite.

He said the government would likely exceed the target as 21,800 houses in the project sites have been set to be completed and turned over to the families of policemen and soldiers by November this year.

Mr. Aquino said the launch of the Bocaue Hills housing project, featuring 4,000 units, came about three months after he promised during the 25th anniversary of the Edsa Revolution that the government would help soldiers and policemen build houses for their families.

“Usapin ito ng palabra de honor at dangal kaya akin lang pong tinutupad ang binitawan kong salita (This is a matter of palabra de honor [word of honor] and integrity. I am fulfilling a promise),” he said.

He assured beneficiaries of good communities not only in this town but in other project sites.

Binay said the housing projects would have two-story elementary and high school buildings, a market and a transport terminal, among other facilities.

He said the houses came in two designs, worth P175,000 and P208,000, and payable in 30 years. Mr. Aquino, he said, set aside a P35,000 government subsidy for each house.

Binay said beneficiaries would pay either P200 or P400 monthly amortization in the first five years. The loan, he said, came with a 6 percent yearly interest.

He said Bulacan would accommodate a total of 9,000 housing units in project sites in the towns of Bocaue and Norzagaray and the City of San Jose del Monte.

Director General Raul Bacalzo, PNP chief, said the project would be a big help to PNP personnel because six of every 10 policemen in the country still did not have their own houses.

Mr. Aquino vowed to see the housing project completed within his term. “Wala akong balak na ipamana sa susunod na magiging pangulo ang mga minana ko. Tama na ang pagtitiis at hinagpis. Ang tanging konsuelo natin ay ang tama at tapat na paglilingkod (I do not intend to pass on to the next president the problems I inherited from the past administration. We should end the suffering and sorrow. Our only consolation is that we serve our countrymen honestly and with integrity),” he said.

He reiterated his administration’s commitment to fight corruption, saying a stricter auditing process of funds of the AFP and PNP has been put in place.