Iloilo City to get 10,000 housing units from ‘Pabahay’ program

By John Noel E. Herrera

Ten thousand more housing units are expected to rise in the metro as Iloilo City has been chosen as one of the first cities in the country to benefit from the Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development’s (DHSUD) “Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino: Zero ISF Program for 2028” or the 4PH Program.

DHSUD Undersecretary Samuel T. Young, who was in the city on Tuesday, Feb 28, 2023, said that the department will help the city government address its housing backlog as it is their goal to “provide homes to every Filipino which they can call their own.”

“The city of Iloilo will be one of the first cities in the entire Philippines to construct desired housing development, and the department will make sure that we will be there all the way. We promise to work smart and hard in order to make sure that we will help your 15,000 residents, not only to have their own home, but also a greater future by planning a sustainable housing development,” Young said.

On Tuesday, Young, together with Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas, Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon, DHSUD OIC Regional Director Engr. Eva Maria Marfil, Pag-IBIG OIC Vice President for Visayas and Mindanao Engr. Noli Armada, Uswag Ilonggo party-list Rep. James Ang, and ICUPAO chief Roy Firmeza signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the housing program after the city council passed a resolution authorizing Trenas to enter into the said MOA.

The 4PH program is a government housing project in partnership with other shelter agencies that aims to fulfill the housing backlogs of the country by 2028, and DHSUD allotted 10,000 housing units for Iloilo City alone.

DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino L. Acuzar previously said that the city local government unit will identify the beneficiaries of the program and manage it upon turnover, while the Pag-IBIG Fund will finance the construction.

Treñas noted that out of 10,000 housing units, an initial 1,200 units will be constructed at the city’s relocation site in Brgy. San Isidro, Jaro, and the beneficiaries of these units include informal settler families (ISFs) living within danger zones.

City hall employees are also allowed to apply as beneficiaries, as long as they are residents of the city and the head or breadwinner of the family.

The city mayor stressed that the project is vital for the progress of the city and the city government’s campaign to give Ilonggos safe and decent housing.

He earlier said that the city government had been doing land banking in preparation for more housing units, as the city faces more than 15,000 housing-unit backlogs.

The city already needed around 2,700 housing units to relocate informal settlers on the banks of the Jaro and Batiano rivers and in Brgy. San Pedro, Molo alone, according to Treñas.

That is why, aside from the said DHSUD’s program, the National Housing Authority (NHA) helped the city government, and is currently implementing other housing projects in the metro, through the initiatives of former senator Franklin Drilon, and Iloilo City Lone District Rep. Julienne Baronda.

The city government is also planning to procure a total of 13-hectare property in Brgy. Tacas, Jaro; and Brgys. San Juan, West Habog-habog, and Baluarte in Molo district using the P200-million loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), to be developed as relocation sites for other informal settlers and the recent victims of a fire in Molo, Iloilo.