Tap Kadamay in screening housing applicants, leader asks NHA

Members of the urban poor group Kadamay gather in a government housing site in Pandi town, Bulacan province, to validate their records with the National Housing Authority. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

PROCESSING OF GOVERNMENT HOUSING IS JUST TOO SLOW
Gloria Arellano
Kadamay chair

CITY OF MALOLOS — Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) admitted on Tuesday that some of its members joined the takeover of six resettlement sites in Bulacan province on March 8, despite having been granted social housing units.

But Kadamay asked the National Housing Authority (NHA) to form a joint validation and screening team with its representatives before the agency disqualifies and evicts at least 71 families, who the NHA said received units in other government housing sites.

Some of those families may have waived their rights to their original social housing units because they could not afford the payments, according to Kadamay spokesperson, Michael Beltran.

“Validation and screening should be jointly done as we agreed with the NHA from the start, but the NHA has not yet fulfilled that part of the agreement,” he said.

The matter was raised because only 1,983 out of 5,278 houses taken by Kadamay in Pandi town were meant for soldiers and policemen, and the rest were intended for informal settlers relocated from Metro Manila.

President Duterte had urged the military and the police to waive their claims over the Bulacan houses in favor of the Kadamay occupants. He did not make any references to the houses meant for other squatter families.

The units allocated for the police and the military are located in Villa Louise housing project in Barangay Siling Bata, while those for squatters are in Villa Elise, Pandi Residences 2 and 3, Pandi Village 2, and Padre Pio housing projects, all in Pandi.

Gloria Arellano, Kadamay chair, said the government should allow the “double recipients” to stay in the occupied houses. “We assert that those families living in houses meant for informal settlers should be allowed to stay where they are. They are also poor,” she said in Filipino.

“Processing of government housing is just too slow. The government is acting now after the neglect and corruption in the housing program have been exposed,” she added.

The NHA also announced it would distribute the occupied houses once Congress decides to reallocate military or police housing units that have been put up based on legislated appropriations.

But Arellano said the discussions in Congress did not address Kadamay’s situation. “For instance, the Senate resolution, which has passed second reading, said that local government employees and village personnel would be the priority beneficiaries if the houses allocated for soldiers and policemen are redistributed,” she said.

According to her, Kadamay members in Pandi have had difficulties applying for jobs in their new communities because village officials would not issue them their barangay clearances.

The Kadamay families have stayed there for eight months and would have been given clearances after they have fulfilled the six-month residency requirement, she said.

At present, water and electricity services have not been made available at some of the houses taken by Kadamay, she said.

In a press conference in Quezon City on Monday, Elsie Trinidad, NHA spokesperson, said while the agency allowed Kadamay members to stay in the units they occupied, they could not be provided with water and electricity because their “entry to the project was not authorized.” —WITH A REPORT FROM JODEE A. AGONCILLO