PAG-IBIG Fund, responding to the call of President Rodrigo Duterte for government agencies to provide full support to the Marawi rehabilitation efforts, said it would finance a housing project for the professors and employees of the Mindanao State University.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held at the project site on Nov. 22, attended by Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and Pag-IBIG Fund Chairperson Eduardo del Rosario, Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy Moti, Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board CEO and Commissioner Lloyd Christopher Lao, MSU president Dr. Habib Macaayong, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, HUDCC Secretary General Falconi Millar, and other government officials.
“We will do our best to provide the necessary assistance in the housing needs of the people of Marawi affected by the conflict, including the MSU professors and personnel who have a very important role in promoting peace and inculcating in the hearts and minds of the young that war will bring nothing but destruction,” said Del Rosario, also designated by Duterte as head of Task Force Bangon Marawi.
The MSU main campus is in Marawi City and the homes of several of its employees and instructors were affected by the conflict that hit the city.
“Pag-IBIG Fund fully supports the BALAI Filipino program of HUDCC and the Marawi rehabilitation efforts. The MSU housing project will provide the beneficiaries decent housing that is within their income and affordability level,” Moti said.
According to Lao, the site development will be through the donation of developers as part of their compliance to the balanced housing requirement.
He added the project will have housing units with 32-sq.m. floor area standing on a 100 sq.m. lot, and is offered for only P450,000.
The Memorandum of Understanding on the MSU housing project was signed on Sept. 21, 2017 at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Pasay City by the Pag-IBIG Fund CEO, the MSU President, and the HLURB CEO and commissioner.
Consultative meetings to discuss the operationalization of the project were conducted the following month, with Pag-IBIG Fund distributing survey forms to the target beneficiaries.
Of the 717 who responded to the survey so far, 697 or 97 percent expressed their interest in the housing project.
But Moti emphasized that other institutions and organizations in Marawi, both in the public and private sectors, might also apply for a housing project similar to that of the MSU project, which Pag-IBIG Fund may also finance.
Pag-IBIG Fund earlier set aside a P3-billion fund under its Home Rehabilitation/Reconstruction Loan Program to provide Pag-IBIG members in Marawi access to housing loans that carries low interest rates and under affordable terms.
The Fund also offered a six-month reprieve on all loan payments to help members recover from the conflict in Marawi City.