Published October 22, 2018, 3:08 PM
By Charissa Luci-Atienza

A leader of the House of Representatives has called on the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the National Housing Authority (NHA) to lead the creation of a task force that would ensure the disposition of the 71 hectares of the Manggahan Floodway Socialized Housing Project Site in Taytay, Rizal, to qualified beneficiaries.

Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo “Albee” Benitez, chairman of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development, said the proposed task force is expected to develop a plan for the disposition of the socialized housing project site.

He noted that Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo stepped in on the issue by filing House Bill 8255, which provides that 71 hectares of the reserved site for socialized housing development at the east and west embankment side of the Manggahan Floodway Socialised Housing Project be allocated for disposition to qualified beneficiaries.

Benitez said the bill was filed following the non-implementation of Proclamation No. 958 which, after 24 years from its issuance, has not resulted in the awarding and distribution of lots in Manggahan to qualified beneficiaries.

Proclamation 958, which was issued by former President Fidel V. Ramos in 1994, declared certain parcels of land situated along the Manggahan Floodway in the municipalities of Cainta and Taytay in Rizal and City of Pasig as open for disposition in favor of the qualified beneficiaries.

“The purpose of the bill is fast track the disposition of lands to beneficiaries. I think it really is an inter department and bureaucracy issue that caused the delay. Hopefully, the lands are already distributed before the bill is passed,” he said in an interview.