DHSUD launches sixth housing project in two weeks

The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) on Friday led the groundbreaking ceremony for a new housing project in Barangay Nangka in Marikina City, the sixth of such ceremonies in merely two weeks under President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program.

The project forms part of the 100 days accomplishments of the Marcos administration in the housing sector.

During his speech, DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar bared that the country’s housing need, pegged at 6.5 million, is “definitely possible” under this national housing program, a brainchild of the President. Under this endeavor, the DHSUD intends to build and dispense one million housing units every year or six million housing units within the six-year term of President Marcos.

“This will not be easy, but definitely possible, as we are already making significant strides in making this happen. This MoU signing and groundbreaking ceremony for a land development and housing project is a concrete manifestation of that,” the housing czar said during the ceremony which was preceded by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro.

From the launch of the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program on September 22, the DHSUD has already signed MoUs and broken ground in Mariveles Town in Bataan and in the cities of Quezon, Bacolod, Roxas and Iloilo.

“I am deeply honored and humbled to be [the President’s] emissary in sending this good news to all of you here in Marikina City, and in the country as a whole – unti-unti na pong matutupad ang pangarap ng bawat pamilyang Pilipino na nagnanais magkaroon ng sariling bahay. Sa pamamagitan po ng Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program, sisikapin natin na makapagpatayo ng isang milyong bahay kada taon,” expressed Secretary Acuzar.

He also reiterated the eagerness of the DHSUD in fast-tracking the implementation of the said housing program, as evidenced by the new strategies on housing production and finance being devised by the agency to ensure that stakeholders accordingly do their duties while mutually gaining benefits from establishing housing projects.

Secretary Acuzar divulged that the President has been constantly monitoring the progress of housing project implementation, with a strict instruction to ensure that the completion happens within this administration.

The DHSUD is currently engaging with other local government units across the country to further clinch MoUs for more housing projects, effectively fulfilling its mandate of providing Filipinos with decent, sustainable and affordable homes they can call their own.