Gov’t housing backlog stands at 3.6 M units

ANGELES CITY — The government is facing a housing backlog of 3.6 million units and needs immediately about P15 billion to resettle some 73,000 families to pave the way for the proposed Manila-Clark railway system and the full rehabilitation of the railway system in Southern Tagalog.

Amid this scenario, Edgardo Pamintuan, general manager of the National Housing Authority (NHA), hinted at the need for a full presidential term for President Arroyo to substantially reduce the housing backlog.

"I think the backlog could be substantially reduced in a full presidential term," he said.

Pamintuan was one of the Capampangan leaders, including Pampanga Gov. Lito Lapid, who launched a movement last month urging Mrs. Arroyo to run for a full term in Malacañang in next year’s elections.

But Pamintuan said, "Even the next presidential term would find it hard to cope with the backlog without a better economy."

At present, he said the government spends about P187,000 for the relocation of a squatter family to a government resettlement site, with homelots measuring only about 40 square meters.

So far, the Arroyo administration has resettled about 500,000 families from squatter areas. About 73,000 more families are still being eyed for relocation in the coming months to pave the way for the long-delayed Manila-Clark railway system and the rehabilitation of railways in Southern Tagalog, he added.

Foreign lending institutions have insisted on the relocation of families along railroad tracks as a pre-condition for the approval and release of soft loans for the railway projects.

Pamintuan said the government has enough budget for the relocation next year of some 17,000 families along the old railroad tracks from Apalit to San Fernando in Pampanga.

The old railroad tracks would be used for the proposed North Railway that would link Metro Manila and the Clark special economic zone where the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) is being eyed for full development into a premiere international airport.

The government has formed local inter-agency councils in the affected municipalities to facilitate the relocation. The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is represented in the councils, Pamintuan said.

Meanwhile, Pamintuan lauded the heirs of Don Pepe Henson of Angeles City who recently signed an agreement with the NHA, selling at a minimum price their 11-hectare property in Barangay Pampang here for the benefit of about 800 families living in the area under the government’s community mortgage program.

He said Henson’s heirs agreed to sell the prime property at only P650 per square meter, or a total of P73.9 million, although the land costs as much as P1,500 per square meter.

The program’s beneficiaries belong to four groups of vendors at the city market in Barangay Pampang.