Three government agencies and Metro Manila local government units (LGUs) are set to implement the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH) Program, a flagship program of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for the homeless.
The Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development (DHSUD), the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), and the Metro Manila mayors have come up with a plan for the program.
During the Metro Manila Council (MMC) meeting at the MMDA headquarters in Pasig City on Wednesday, DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar said his agency has 170,000 units or 55 projects in different locations in Metro Manila that are currently in construction.
The 4PH program aims to address the need for decent housing and to boost the economy.
The plan involves temporarily relocating informal settler families (ISF) to government staging areas while the 4PH project is being constructed.
Once completed, all ISFs will be permanently transferred to their new homes.
DILG Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said the local government units in Metro Manila will play a significant role in identifying idle government lands that can be used for the government’s housing program and staging areas that will serve as temporary shelters.
He also emphasized that the ISF families will not be displaced since they plan to relocate within the city.
MMDA Chairman Romando Don Artes said the Metro Manila mayors will come up with an inventory of informal settler families in their areas of jurisdiction and government-owned open spaces or suitable areas as staging sites.
“We will create a Technical Working Group that will be closely working together for the submission of LGUs’ inventories of all available and suitable lands for the program,” said Artes.
Metro Manila Mayor and MMC President Francis Zamora expressed his commitment and cooperation to ensure the successful implementation of the 4PH program under President’s Executive Order No. 34. He also mentioned that LGUs can give incentives to owners who will allow the use of their properties that are idle as staging areas.