At QC housing launch, Marcos says government to help beneficiaries pay for units
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Tuesday tasked Congress with including funding in the 2024 budget to help beneficiaries pay the interest on government housing units.
Marcos made the announcement at the groundbreaking ceremony for the first phase of the Batasan Development and Urban Renewal Plan in Quezon City, a project under the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program. The national housing program aims to build around six million housing units between 2023 and 2028.
"The government is committed to secure the needed housing interest support for 2023," he said to cheers from the crowd as he turned to his cousin House Speaker Martin Romualdez, who was also at the event.
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"I now call... on Congress for your support, including housing interest support as part of the regular appropriations for the succeeding year," he told Romualdez.
Marcos said that while the government works to meet housing demand, "many of our beneficiaries will still not be able to afford the monthly amortization of these units." He said that the government will work to find money — an initial P1 billion or so — for a subsidy fund to help housing beneficiaries pay for their units.
Batasan Development and Urban Renewal Plan
In the same speech, Marcos said the groundbreaking for the two mixed-use and residential towers on the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Batasan Road is "only the beginning of one of the largest projects under the government flagship housing program."
The project will include 2,100 housing units for members of the Batasan Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association as well for informal settler families in Quezon City. Because of the livelihoods of the beneficiaries, the ground floor of the housing development will be a tricycle terminal, the president said.
He said that this will also mean that "those living here and in the surrounding areas will have complete access to markets, schools, hospitals, and various means of making income so that they will prosper and get to see their dreams come to life."
Many relocation and housing sites are built far from urban centers, which means beneficiaries would have to pay more to get to their places of work or find jobs nearer to their new homes.
Marcos also praised Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte for supporting the national government, particularly in "allocating land and financial resources for housing, a very critical service for all of us in government." He said local government support is crucial in finding housing sites, identifying eligible beneficiaries and "ensuring livability for the future years to come."
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Mayor Belmonte, who has advocated in-city relocation and housing, thanked Marcos and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development for supporting the city's housing program. She said that it was in Barangay Batasan Hills that Marcos made the promise during the 2022 election campaign to address the country's housing shortage.
The groundbreaking, she said, "is proof that the president delivers on his promises."
The city plans to build 187,000 housing units in three sites, including the one in Batasan. Quezon City, which sprawls across around 161 square kilometers, has several commercial areas but development has been slower in barangays away farther away from those centers.
The mayor said the housing developments would bring development to those parts of the city and would make them centers of commerce as well.
She said the housing projects would "redound to the benefit of our citizens, especially those living along esteros" as she stressed that decent housing is a basic human right. — Jonathan de Santos
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Disclosure: Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte is a shareholder of Philstar Global Corp., which operates digital news outlet Philstar.com. This article was produced following editorial guidelines.
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