More than 2,000 squatter families in Tondo, Manila will soon get their own houses as Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo negotiated for the release of a five-hectare government property for the housing project that will benefit the homeless.
This as former President and Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada thanked Arroyo for spearheading the project for the city’s urban poor, saying she is heaven-sent.
“You are a heaven-sent to us Manileños, Madam President,” said Estrada to Arroyo, who had succeeded the former as Chief Executive.
Arroyo went to Tondo on Tuesday to witness the signing of an agreement between the Philippine Ports Authority and the National Housing Authority covering the said property.
The signing was done in the sidelines of a hearing conducted by the House Oversight Committee on Housing at the Rosauro Arboleda Elementary School in Zaragoza, Tondo.
The 2,000 families will be displaced by the ongoing rehabilitation of Manila Bay.
The memorandum provided for the allocation of a five-hectare PPA property in Tondo, Manila to house the thousands of squatter families living in Isla Puting Bato off Manila Bay.
Also present during the signing were Transportation Secretary Arturo Tugade; Senator Cynthia Villar, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources; Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez, chairman of the House Oversight Committee on Housing; Manila Rep. Manuel Lopez, and heads of the NHA, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, and PPA.
Benitez said the effort of Arroyo “will be a template in the implementation of other squatter relocation projects specially now that the law creating the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development has been signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.”
The housing allocation came after Arroyo called for a hearing of the House Oversight Committee to address the delay in the release of titles to the recipients of urban poor housing proclamations she issued when she was President.
During the hearing, it was revealed that the squatter families living in a property owned by PPA in Isla Puting Bato will be displaced because of the ongoing rehabilitation of Manila Bay.
This prompted Arroyo to inquire what arrangements are being made in the transfer of the affected residents. She also asked the PPA to ensure that they would not be deprived of their source of livelihood.
This prompted all stakeholders to sign an MOU after the PPA committed to set aside five hectares of its property in Tondo for the affected families.
Under the agreement, the PPA will allocate the land and construct the housing units in coordination with port operators International Container Terminal Services, Inc and Manila North Harbour Port, Inc.
The NHA will identity the qualified recipients while the locasl government of Manila will help in the implementation of the project.
Some P1 billion will be allotted for the project.
Hundreds of Isla Puting Bato residents witnessed the signing.
Chairman Bryan Mondejar of Barangay Isla Puting Bato said residents in the area had been worried about their condition for years especially with the Manila Bay clean up and had decided to come to the hearing to bring to the attention to Speaker Arroyo about their condition.
“We are grateful to Speaker GMA that our situation finally has some certainty, and we will be moving to decent homes,” Mondejar said.
