BAGUIO CITY—The national government will have at least five- million housing units backlog by 2022 once housing agencies will not be aggressive in the implementation of housing projects for the benefit of Filipinos who are longing for decent houses around the country, Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito said here recently.
The lawmaker said that to date, the government has a backlog of more than 1.2-million housing units because of the alleged failure of housing agencies to significantly increase completion of housing projects around the country in the prescribed time frame.
Ejercito, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Housing and Urban Development, noted that the current performance of housing agencies in the completion of housing units is around 170,000 units annually, way below the supposed 300,000 completed housing units needed to address the backlog created because of the alleged failure of concerned government agencies to provide alternative choices to interested beneficiaries of housing projects.
“We are satisfied with the performance of housing agencies in the implementation of housing projects because they have embraced the reforms that we have proposed, particularly the proper choices of the areas to be developed for housing purposes, the availability of basic utilities and the availability of various housing units from which beneficiaries will select the most feasible for their needs,” Senator Ejercito said.
The senator said that one of the major reasons why government housing projects failed in the past is because of the wrong choices made by those in charge of housing on the areas to be developed, which were very far from urban areas and aggravated by the fact that there were no basic services available for the beneficiaries, and that the single model of housing units deprived people of their right to select units that will suit their budget.
According to him, the resilience of housing agencies in the implementation of housing projects in the different parts of the country will definitely help in addressing the existing backlog in housing units that was created by the failure of previous officials to come out with a definitive approach beneficial to the recipients of the housing units.
Ejercito emphasized shelter agencies should not deprive their clients of their right to select the housing units that will suit their available budget for the duration of the payment of the units that they will select from the options to be presented to them by the housing agencies.
Ejercito underscored the importance of housing to every Filipino family and housing agencies must be aggressive in the implementation of decent housing projects so that units will be bought and eventually occupied unlike in the past. Previously those who have occupied housing units they bought eventually abandoned the awarded units because of the absence of basic services like light and water, and stopped paying for the units resulting to the huge backlog.
He called on individuals wanting to avail of housing units in various government projects to already start availing because they can already select the suitable housing units for their needs.