DAVAO CITY—The Office of the Presidential Assistant for Mindanao-Eastern (Opamine) and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) have embarked on an ambitious program to build houses for a million indigent families each year toward the end of the term of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
The Opamine said in a statement that it has joined forces with DHSUD for the implementation of the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program of the Marcos administration with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the multi-year project on Thursday.
Secretary Leo Tereso Magno signed the MOU for the Opamine and Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar signed for DHSUD.
The MOU has both officials agreeing “to help each other in ensuring that the mega-housing project would benefit the homeless, especially in Opamine’s area of jurisdiction, namely, Regions 11 [Davao Region], 12 [Soccsksargen] and 13 [Caraga].”
A total of 6 million housing units would be constructed with one million houses per year for the next six years of the Marcos administration, the Opamine said.
Both agencies agreed to coordinate with each other in identifying qualified properties and beneficiaries and monitoring of the implementation of the housing project.
In a message during the signing of the MOU, Magno assured Mindanaoans “of their fair share of the housing program of President Marcos considering that there are still considerable number of Filipino families in Mindanao that do not own a house.”
“This administration knows that we have to build houses to foster homes. Good homes would mean better Filipinos. Better Filipinos would pave the way for a better Philippines. We hope that this massive housing project of the Marcos administration would pave the way for a better life for all of us, most especially those who truly need and deserve to be given a better chance in life,” Magno said.
“Thus, I thank the DHSUD for partnering with us to give homeless families in Eastern Mindanao a better home, a better future. Rest assured that Opamine-Eastern will tediously do [its] responsibilities and obligations to faithfully execute the implementation of the project in Regions 11, 12 and 13,” Magno said.