Five thousand housing units will be constructed under the government’s Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program within a 6.4-hectare property owned by the Baguio city government at Sitio Topinao, Barangay Poblacion, Tuba Benguet.
The units measu-ring 24 to 27 square meters each will be situated in several condominium-type structures with an estimated project cost of more than P1 billion.
The project recently broke ground in the presence of Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development Usec. Welfredo Mallari, Asec. Krsnadasi de Leon, Asec. Tiburcio Canlas and Regional Director Mary Amoroso, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong, Tuba Mayor Clarita Sal-ngan, Itogon Mayor Bernard Waclin, city and municipal councilors, and representatives of government agencies and private institutions.
Pag-Ibig Chief Executive Officer Marilene Acosta, who represented DHSUD Sec. Jose Rizalino Acuzar, expressed the agency’s gratitude to the city government and partner agencies for their contributions in the realization of said project that will contribute in helping address the housing backlog not only in the region but also in the country.
The country has a backlog of 6.5 million housing units where 3.7 million are informal settlers and 2.8 million are gainfully employed individuals that need affordable housing for their families.
In the Cordillera, Amoroso said there is a backlog of 129,000 housing units with the city accounting for 19,999 units.
DSHUD entered into memoranda of understanding with 130 local government units in the country to realize the government’s goal of building one million affordable housing units for homeless Filipinos. – PIO release
