Senator JV Ejercito on Tuesday criticized the National Housing Authority for the “snail-like” pace of distribution of the housing units to the intended beneficiaries.
Ejercito said this included housing projects for members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, and the housing and relocation for informal settler families that needed to be relocated from danger zones, and for families who were rendered homeless due to calamities like “Sendong,” “Yolanda,” Zamboanga seige, and others.
He cited a Commission on Audit Report of 2015 which showed that the occupancy rate in the AFP/PNP was only 8.09 percent out of the 57,494 completed housing units since the NHA built the units.
Ejercito said in the NHA report dated Sept. 30, 2016, the occupancy rate increased to just 13.8 percent.
He said occupants of the housing units under the NHA programs usually complain of the same problems—the lack of electricity, and access to schools and health centers.
“It is sad that we have reached this [point]. What happened to the thousands and thousands of houses that were built? Where are those already distributed and being occupied by our less fortunate people? Also, where are those thousands of unoccupied housing?” asked Ejercito, who is the chairman of the Senate committee on urban planning, housing and resettlement.
Ejercito also questioned how many of housing units truly benefitted the people.
“When government builds homes without regard for the immediate need, safety, and comfort of those who would live in it, then it becomes a sheer act of shameless profiteering,” he said.
“Government officials and employees become greedy bureaucrat capitalists who are out to steal from government coffers, making easy profit from the misery of the poor, displaced and marginalized families. Sadly, this seems to be the sorry state that is left of our housing program that we must now solve,” he added.
He said the “OccupyBulacan” wherein members of the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay), an urban poor group, took over a housing project in Pandi, Bulacan, should alarm the government to resolve the crisis of the absence of a safe and decent housing.
“This is a wakeup call. This is a sign that the old system should be changed and that we should give priority to a comprehensive and a genuine housing program.
Senator Joel Villanueva described Kadamay’s “takeover” a “sign of desperation.
Responding to Villanueva’s query, NHA general manager Marcelino Escalada Jr. disclosed that only 8,240 of the 66,184 government housing projects had so far been occupied , with 55,124 still “unoccupied.”
The NHA head, however, explained that after the NHA financed and constructed the units, they already turned over them to the beneficiaries.
“So in terms of seemingly the delay or what causes both boards —the AFP and the PNP—why did the award take so long, I think that is a question that we can ask of course our partner who are supposed to be the beneficiaries…” Escalada said.
Ejercito initiated an investigation on the forced occupation by the Kadamay of housing units built by the NHA in Bulacan.
In the same hearing, the NHA told the Senate panel that it has approved bigger housing units for the military and police personnel from 22 square meter (sqm) floor area to 44 sqm.
“Our NHA management had approved the increase of the lot area from 40 sqm to 80 sqm lot area and the floor are from 22 to 44 under the AFP/PNP housing program,” said Nonato, group manager of NHA.
She related that as early as November last year, President Rodrigo Duterte directed the NHA and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) to immediately improve the government housing projects for the military and police.
“As agreed with the AFP/PNP housing boards, immediate occupancy of the housing units will be required,” added Nonato, who is also vice chair of AFP-PNP housing committee of NHA.
The NHA and the AFP/PNP housing boards also agreed, among others, to conduct a joint inventory of the housing units, including actual occupancy per site.
Nonato said the NHA will also require all developers of the housing units to immediately install powers and water facilities and construct a guard house and entrance gate for security purposes.