Lina seeks investigation into Tarlac housing ‘anomaly’

BAMBAN, Tarlac — Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina has instructed his department’s Central Luzon director to look into the controversy surrounding a P7.5-million housing project named after President Arroyo for Mt. Pinatubo victims.

In a memorandum to Rodolfo Farraren, regional chief of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Lina sought an update on allegations that the housing project failed to comply with the law and was overpriced and substandard.

The controversial project, called the GMA-Department of Social and Welfare Development Core Housing, involves the construction of 140 houses for Mt. Pinatubo victims still waiting for decent shelters at the Dapdap resettlement site in this town.

This town’s mayor, Leonardo Anunciacion, has reportedly constructed some 40 houses in Barangay Lourdes inside the resettlement area.

However, the municipal council discovered that Anunciacion allegedly issued payments to Carmelita Layson, owner of the Layson’s Lumber and Hardware, last Nov. 14 without its prior approval.

The municipal council ratified and approved Anunciacion’s memorandum of agreement with Layson only on Nov. 25. Under the Local Government Code, contracts which mayors enter into should first be authorized by their respective local councils.

Also, it was also found out that the Pinatubo Project Management Office (PPMO) had issued a "cease-and-desist" order for the project after it learned that Anunciacion proceeded with the construction of the houses despite the absence of any approval from the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

Since the Mt. Pinatubo Commission was abolished, the HUDCC-PPMO has been tasked by Malacañang to oversee the implementation of housing projects inside resettlement sites for victims of the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption.

Meanwhile, board member Chad Apostol, president of the Philippine Councilors’ League-Tarlac chapter, said he would initiate an inquiry into the controversy in the provincial board.

He said it is unlikely that each of the houses constructed under the project cost P53,000.

Apostol noted that the newly built houses have an average measurement of only three meters in width and four meters in length.

He added that the Bamban municipal council also discovered that the newly built houses were allegedly "not in conformity with the approved program of work" for the project.

Apostol said the inquiry he is seeking would not only be in aid of legislation.

"If ever any local public official (of this town) would be found to be at fault, I will personally see to it that the provincial board itself will institute the necessary criminal and administrative charges against those responsible for the disgracing mess," he said.