INFORMAL settler families (ISF) in Metro Manila would be relocated to “staging sites” that will serve as their temporary relocation for “one or two years” while permanent housing under the “Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program (4PH) of the Marcos administration are being readied for them, government officials said yesterday.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairperson Romando Artes said this was the gist of his meeting with Interior Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos III, San Juan Mayor and Metro Manila Council president Francis Zamora and Department of Human Settlement and Urban Housing Jose Rizalino Acuzar at the MMDA main office in Pasig City.
“They will stay temporarily in the staging areas while we are looking for a permanent place for them. We will look for a place where they can stay,” Artes said, adding the government’s solution to the problem of squatting is in-city relocation.
He said this means the ISFs will not be uprooted from their workplaces and schools for their children.
Artes said the 17 Metro local government units will be tasked to conduct an inventory of the number of ISFs in their respective jurisdictions.
“We will prioritize doing it in pilot areas since our kababayans will be easily encouraged if they see in-city relocation as a success,” he said.
Zamora said the government is looking at government lands and idle private lots as temporary “staging areas” for ISFs.
“We have many options such as using government lands and idle private lands for these staging areas or temporary relocation for ISFs. Once we have it, there is no more need for them to be relocated far,” Zamora said.
“Metro Manila mayors are in full support of the President’s housing program. It is my vision for San Juan to be ISF-free, and this project is an opportunity to make it possible and provide the ISFs with decent housing all over Metro Manila,” Zamora added.
Abalos said Mandaluyong City, where he served as mayor for several years and is now helmed by his wife, said they have successfully implemented a similar program.
He said Mandaluyong utilized container vans as temporary housing for ISFs while permanent relocation sites within the city were being prepared for them.
He said the ISFs will stay in the staging areas for “one to two years,” enough time to finish their permanent housing facilities.
“The ISF families will not be displaced as we plan in-city relocation,” Abalos said, adding that LGUs have a big role to play in identifying government lands that can be used for the housing program and staging areas.
“We will create a Technical Working Group that will closely work together for the submission of LGUs inventories of all available and suitable lands for the housing program,” Artes said.
Acuzar said the ISFs who would be temporarily housed in staging areas would be given priority in the allocation of slots in the permanent housing sites.
He said the program will utilize funding from the private sector banks and government financial institutions.
Asked how much the beneficiaries will pay monthly, Acuzar said it would “definitely be lower than the prevailing commercial rate,” adding it would be P5,000 and lower.
Acuzar said the DHSUD has 55 housing projects with 170, 000 units in Metro Manila that are currently under construction.
