‘Let informal settlers take 55,000 gov’t housing units’
Published May 18, 2018, 5:17 PM
By Ben Rosario
A senior administration lawmaker on Friday demanded the immediate implementation of a congressional initiative allowing informal settlers to be beneficiaries of 55,000 unoccupied housing units intended for men and women in uniform, saying that this will save the houses from deterioration.
Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo “Albee” Benitez
(albeebenitez.ph / MANILA BULLETIN)
Negros Occidental Rep. Albee Benitez aired the call as he lauded President Duterte’s approval of Joint Resolution No. 2 authorizing the National Housing Authority (NHA) to award over 55,000 unoccupied housing units to informal settler families.
Authored by Benitez, the joint resolution addresses the controversy surrounding the P20 billion AFP/PNP housing program that has failed to really benefit policemen, firemen and soldiers to whom the NHA housing units were originally intended.
Benitez warned that unless the NHA acts immediately to award the completed housing units to informal settlers, the chance of deterioration would be high.
“We thank President Duterte for his full support of the housing agenda that we have been pushing in Congress. This is a welcome step moving forward to address the growing housing needs in the country,” said Benitez, chairman of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development.