Private firm to build housing project for troops in Maguindanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Soldiers and policemen assigned in the northern part of this province will soon have their own houses under a colossal housing project of a pioneering private entity investing P365 million for the venture.

The houses  will be built by the Bumbaran Development Corp. (BDC) at Barangay Sarmiento in the seaside Parang town in Maguindanao.

The project was launched Wednesday by DBC representatives and officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao led by Gov. Mujiv Hataman and the ARMM’s police director, Chief Supt. Noel Delos Reyes.

The BDC, which is engaged in housing projects in Mindanao, is operating with an investment certificate issued by the ARMM’s Regional Board of Investment.

The BDC aims to build 1,500 units of “affordable houses” for soldiers and policemen in Barangay Sarmiento.

Hataman said the project will also generate employment for some 700 carpenters, masons, electricians and plumbers.

As a special incentive, the ARMM government will grant BDC “tax holidays” and other technical assistance for having earmarked P365 million for the housing project, through the Regional Board of Investments.  

Parang mayor  Ibrahim Ibay said the housing project will also boost the municipality's economy.

The ARMM’s regional police headquarters are located at Camp S.K. Pendatun about a kilometer west of the town proper of Parang.

The headquarters of the Philippine Army’s 603rd Brigade are in Barira town, also in Maguindanao, some 20 kilometers northeast of Parang.

“If there are 1,500 families of soldiers and policemen who will reside in the housing project, vendors in our market, suppliers of rice and other food provisions, will earn more and more earnings by the business sector mean more tax collections by our local government unit,” Ibay said.

The launching of the housing project was also attended by the commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, Brig. Gen. Romeo Gafus.  - John Unson