Malacañang maintained that the People’s Ville housing program in Davao City is a project of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s administration despite some beneficiaries saying they had applied for the program as early as 2017.

One of the residents of People’s Ville in Barangay Riverside, Calinan, Davao City said her family is among the first batch of beneficiaries to move into the housing project.

The housing project is under the government’s Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH) program in partnership with the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC).

She claimed that she and her daughter, who is a teacher, began processing their documents in 2017 to avail of the housing program.

“Sa akoang ma-remember, akong anak man gyud ang nag-ano ani diri, 2017 pa, basta katong ano siya, kasagbutan pa ni. Wala gyud ko nag-expect nga ano gyud siya tinuod gyud siya kay dugay na man gud, imagine mo 2017, unya nahatag ni sa iya is 2024,” a resident who availed the program, Maria MeldrinaTano, said.

It can be recalled that Marcos visited the project a day after he delivered his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 28, 2026.

Vice President Sara Duterte earlier said she was aware of the project because it began when she was still mayor of Davao City.

“Yes, I know, project namin ’yan nung mayor ako, ’di ba? So ayaw ko mag-comment sa kanyang pagbisita,” Duterte said.

However, Malacañang maintained that the project was implemented under the current administration.

Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro presented documents to support the claim, including a development permit reportedly issued on July 18, 2023; a building permit application and permit approved on February 16, 2024; and a certificate of registration issued on June 20, 2024 — all during Marcos’ term.

“Isang maayos na pabahay, isang tunay na komunidad, ngunit ang proyektong ito ay pilit na inaagaw ng ilang mapagpanggap na kahit wala silang anumang kontribusyon sa pagod ng Pangulong Marcos Jr. at ng DHSUD. This project was planned and worked on by the current administration of President Marcos because this is what the President wants for our fellow Filipinos,” Castro said.

According to a post by SHFC, the groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held on October 20, 2022, with city officials present at the event.

City Councilor Tek Ocampo, one of the officials who attended the groundbreaking ceremony, said the project was already underway in October 2022, only months after he began his first term as councilor.

“Nangyari ang groundbreaking sa peoples ville na housing project sa Brgy Riverside Davao City, noong October 20, 2022 barely four months during my first term as councilor under SHFC. Yung sinasabi na project ito ni BBM ewan ko kung pano nangyari yon kasi it is barely four months when he became the president of the country imposible naman siguro na in that short span of time nakaplano kaagad at nakaimplement ng ganon,” Ocampo said.

Ocampo also recalled that the planning and other preparations for the project took place during the term of Duterte as city mayor under the administration of her father, former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

“As far as I can remember nangyari ang planning and all noong panahon ni then mayor now Vice President Sara Duterte during the incumbency of his father former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte,” Duterte said.

People’s Ville currently has 2,600 housing units, with additional buildings still under construction. The project will have a total of 7,200 units spread across 14.6 hectares of land.