The national government (NG) has yet to institutionalize the utilization of its idle lands for socialized housing initiatives of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
This after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. announced during his speech at the groundbreaking of the Disiplina Village in Arkong Bato Park in Valenzuela City on Monday that the mechanism for the said process is still pending.
“We are still studying how to go about identifying and using vacant government land, which can be used for housing in line with existing laws and rules,” Marcos said in Filipino.
As early as last November, the Presidential Communications Office said Marcos was already planning to issue a new executive order (EO) to allow DHSUD to use idle government lands for its housing projects.
The issuance was supposed to instruct DHSUD and other concerned government agencies to conduct an inventory of the then estimated 16,000 hectares of “idle state lands suitable for housing and rural development.”
Pending the release of the said EO, the DHSUD is currently rely with its partner local government units (LGU) to provide the necessary land, which it can use for its housing projects, through agreements.
Among the said initiatives is the fourth Disiplina Village to be built on a 2.07-hectare land at Barangay Arkong Bato in Valenzuela City.
The 20 5-story buildings will benefit 1,200 informal settler families (ISF), who were living along the Tullahan River and the Manila Bay.
The completed DHSUD housing projects include the 1,380 housing units under the St. Gregory Homes Project in Malabon City.
St. Gregory Homes Project is a resettlement site comprising 23 5-story low-rise buildings, which will accommodate the ISFs living along Malabon City’s waterways and danger zones, and those affected by the construction of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) pumping stations.
Marcos led the turnover of some of the remaining vacant units of the said housing projects to its intended beneficiaries on Monday.
The President urged the private sector to continue to provide support to DHSUD so it can build more socialized housing through its “Build, Better, More” housing program.
“It is important for other government agencies to cooperate with the private sector to realize our collective goal [of building more housing units],” Marcos said.
