P300-M housing project breaks ground in Iloilo City

By John Noel E. Herrera

Iloilo City lone district Rep. Julienne “Jam-jam” Baronda together with National Housing Authority (NHA) General Manager Joeben Tai lead the groundbreaking ceremony of the Iloilo City People’s Residences on Saturday, Oct 15, 2022.

Baronda said that the Iloilo City People’s Residence located in Brgy. Tabuc Suba, Jaro, Iloilo City is a housing project intended for the informal settler families (ISFs) affected by the city government’s infrastructure projects.

The P300 million-worth housing project with a total lot area of 1.9 hectares features five low-rise buildings with 300 housing units, wherein each unit has a floor area of 24 square meters with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a garage.

“Take note, this is a township project, we will put this area into place nga may-ara siya mismo nga economic enterprise, may ara siya multi-purpose building, may-ara man gymnasium para maka-cater sang isa ka community,” Baronda said.

She also emphasized that the fund to be used for the project is not from the General Appropriations Act or the national executive budget but from the corporate funds of NHA.

NHA General Manager Joeben Tai said that the project will be turned over to Iloilo City as the city government will be the one to manage it once it is already finished.

“Yes, we will transfer it to the LGU (Iloilo City Government). We came here to provide technical assistance with construction. When everything is constructed and already completed, we will turn it over to the LGU so they will be able to turn this over to the beneficiaries,” Tai said.

The beneficiaries will also be validated by the LGU and those who are qualified will need to pay monthly to the NHA if they are going to avail of the housing project.

“With regards to payment, meron po silang monthly payment with the NHA. Very affordable naman po as NHA’s mandate is to give affordable housing. The price ranges from P500 to P1000 monthly, depending on the cost of land,” Tai said.

Tai also noted that there is still a 6.5 million housing backlog in the country and they are still looking for other prospective sites for future projects.

Meanwhile, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Trenas earlier said that Iloilo City faces more than 15,000-housing-unit backlogs.

Trenas said 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 alone.

To recall, the Iloilo City Government together with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) also held a groundbreaking ceremony for the two 10-storey condominium project dubbed Uswag Township Development in Barangay San Isidro, Jaron district last September.

The city government is also in the process of procuring an additional eight hectares of land in Brgy Tacas, Jaro and Brgy Baluarte, Molo for more housing projects.