DHSUD: 43 MOU signed for national housing program so far

The Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development (DHSUD) on Tuesday said it had signed more than 40 memorandums of understanding (MOU) for the government’s national housing program.

DHSUD Undersecretary Avelino Tolentino III said the agency signed a total of 43 MOU with various local government units for the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program.

The program seeks to establish 6 million houses in six years.

“[S]ila po ay nag-commit na po ng suporta sa programa at sila po ay nag-commit din po ng paghanap ng lupa para doon programang ating pabahay 'no,” Tolentino said during the public briefing.

(They committed support for the program and they also committed to finding land for our Pabahay program.)

Further, he said the DHSUD has launched 12 groundbreaking projects, including the most recent one in Nueva Ecija which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. attended.

Tolentino also said the agency made a commitment of more than 200,000 housing units under the program in the past four months.

“Isa pong patunay na meron po tayong shift na nangyayari dito sa ating public housing sector at on top of this, hindi po natin pinabayaan 'yung ating day-to-day operations,” he said.

(This is to prove that there is a shift in the public housing sector and, on top of this, we are not neglecting our day-to-day operations.)

GFIs

According to Tolentino, several government financial institutions (GFIs) have also expressed support for the program, including the Social Security System, the Government Service Insurance System, the Development Bank of the Philippines, and the Land Bank of the Philippines.

“Ito pong support na ito magsisigurado na meron pong developmental loan para po mag-kickstart ng construction dito sa ating pabahay,” he said.

(This support ensures that there will be a developmental loan to kickstart the construction of the houses.)

“[A]ng importante po dito ay ang ating programa ay papasok na po ang budget, ang pera, galing po sa ating GFIs. At hopefully po sumunod na po ang ating mga private banks,” he added.

(What is important here is that the budget for our program from GFIs will start arriving. And hopefully, private banks will follow suit soon.)

Future projects

Meanwhile, asked about their future projects, Tolentino said the agency seeks to streamline and digitalize its day-to-day operations.

“We want it to be more efficient, we want it to be streamlined, so we are now looking towards the use of digitalization, the use of information technology so that we are able to streamline and make more efficient our processes,” he said.

Tolentino said they also seek to intensify the Pambansang Pabahay Program.

“At naniniwala po kami na pagpasok ng mga susunod na taon, magkakaroon po tayo ng mas magandang budget para sa interest subsidy at malagdaan po at maitutok na po ang government plans pagsuporta dito sa pambansang pabahay program,” he said.

(We believe that in the coming year, we will have enough budget for interest subsidy and the government plans for the national housing project will be signed.)—AOL, GMA Integrated News