SENATE housing committee chairman Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito said Friday that most of the housing units for uniformed personnel in Bacolod City were already awarded to its beneficiaries, but those who will waive their houses will be distributed by the National Housing Authority (NHA) to the qualified beneficiaries.
Ejercito, who inspected the NHA housing project in Barangay Felisa with the local officials Friday, September 7, said they conducted an investigation on the implementation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine National Police (AFP-PNP) housing projects in the country in the past years.
“It was revealed in our investigation why our uniformed personnel failed to occupy the housing units and President Rodrigo Duterte already promised to build new housing projects for our AFP-PNP personnel,” he said.
Ejercito added that he was surprised when several members of Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) in Bacolod City also trooped in Barangay Felisa last week, noting that for the past year, Kadamay also forcibly occupied idle housing units in Pandi, Bulacan.
Ejercito said here in Bacolod, those units that will not be taken will be distributed by the NHA to the qualified beneficiaries and it is not for free because the amortization will also be used again to further build housing projects.
Last week, NHA Architect Susana Nonato, head of the project implementation team of the AFP-PNP housing site, met with Kadamay-Negros, Social Action Center (SAC) head Fr. Chris Gonzales, along with the representatives from AFP, PNP, Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Congressman Greg Gasataya, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, and other city officials.
Ciudad Felisa has a total of 1,498 units. Of the number, 45 percent of the units were awarded to the members of the AFP, another 45 percent to the members of the PNP and the remaining 10 percent were awarded to the members of the BJMP, BFP, and the BuCor.
It’s a row house, which was constructed in 2012 and completed in 2015, with a floor area of 22 square meters and expandable to 33 square meters, with a monthly amortization of P200 for 25 years.
Duterte had earlier signed a resolution that authorizes NHA to award to other qualified beneficiaries the unoccupied housing units whose ownership and possession are surrendered by their respective awardees and housing units whose respective awards were cancelled by the policemen, army, firemen and jail personnel.
Ejercito said out of 60,000 housing units for the uniformed personnel, about 57,000 units are unoccupied all over the country, so the unoccupied will be distributed by the NHA to the qualified beneficiaries.
“For Kadamay, we cannot release it for free because the amortization will also be used for other housing projects because as of the moment, we have 1.2 million backlogs in housing projects,” he said.
He added they are also in the advanced stage already of passing the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act, which is expected to improve the quality of houses.
“Humihingi ako ng pag-unawa sa mga Kadamay na hintayain lang natin na bigyan ng pagkakataon na maging operational na ang Department of Housing para ma implement na ang mga reforms that we are instituting in the housing programs,” Ejercito said.
For her part, Nonato said she will coordinate with Leonardia if there are uniformed personnel who will waive their units in Barangay Felisa.
“We will coordinate with the mayor because we determined that some of the Kadamay are not residents of Bacolod,” she said.
Nonato explained that the housing project for the uniformed personnel is still unoccupied because the process to install electric and water connections is still ongoing.
“We are coordinating with the service providers and the city government also promised to assist us,” she said.
Leonardia also said that they will assist the NHA and the qualified beneficiaries should follow the process.
“It’s a good development that Senator Ejercito personally inspected the area, but of course we should follow the rule of law, procedures, and legality,” he said.
He added that they will follow their existing program for the distribution of the relocation site in Bacolod.
Dialogue cancelled
About 400 members of Kadamay Friday expressed dismay that the officials of the NHA and Gasataya failed to show up for a dialogue at Gasataya’s office near the Bacolod Government Center (BGC).
They assembled at the BGC at about 1 p.m. and marched towards the office of Gasataya.
Ereneo Longinos, secretary-general of Kadamay-Negros, said that last week, the NHA has promised to present the documents to prove that the idle housing units are already awarded to the uniformed personnel.
“They (NHA) are not sincere to give us an answer because they failed to meet us here,” he said.
He added the NHA, Gasataya and the City Mayor’s Office held a meeting on Thursday about the housing problem, which they were not informed.
Longinos pointed out the NHA should implement the joint resolution signed by Duterte to award to other qualified beneficiaries the unoccupied housing units whose ownership and possession are surrendered by their respective awardees and housing units whose respective awards were cancelled by uniformed personnel.
Longinos said the leaders of Kadamay with the other groups will meet with Gasataya on Monday to discuss their demands that were not answered by NHA.
Longinos also asked the assistance of Ejercito to help them and to continue the investigations on the housing projects of the NHA.
Moreover, NHA-Bacolod office project manager Alejandro Ongsuco said there was no more dialogue with the Kadamay because all their demands were already discussed last week during their meeting at the Business Inn.
He said supposedly, the dialogue was set September 7, however, after they trooped at Barangay Felisa, they held a meeting at Business Inn with the leaders of Kadamay and other groups.
“All their concerns were already discussed last week,” he added.
Leonardia also clarified they held a meeting with the NHA, Gasataya, and Bacolod Housing Authority to discuss the housing project in the city and not the implementation of the NHA project in Barangay Felisa.
Meanwhile, Gasataya also said his meeting with Leonardia, NHA, and BHA on Thursday was only more on assessment of the housing projects in Bacolod.
He said he already informed the Kadamay leaders as well as Gonzales that he will meet them on Monday to show the documents from the NHA.
Gasataya will also send a communication to the NHA in Manila requesting them to submit some of the documents on the implementation of housing in Bacolod.