To be able to save taxpayers’ money, the Presidential Commission on Urban Poor is asking the National Housing Authority to allow it to occupy a 3,000-square meter lot at the National Government Center in Quezon City as its permanent office.
In an interview, president chairperson and chief executive officer Alvin Feliciano lamented the PCUP has been spending “half a million peso a year for rent of an office space.”
He said the PCUP does not have its own “permanent home” in the past three decades.
On Dec. 8, 1986, President Corazon Aquino issued Executive Order No. 82, paving the way for the creation of PCUP that shall be the direct link of the urban poor to the government.
“For 33 years, the past administrations have not thought of having a permanent place,” Feliciano told the Manila Standard.
“We could save a lot of money if we have our own building,” he said.
The PCUP was formerly located along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue, Project 7 before its transfer to another leased building on Quezon Avenue, also in Quezon City.
“We have expressed the intent to buy the lot at 20 percent based on its assessed value,” Feliciano said.
He said he has already taken up the matter with NHA general manager Marcelino Escalada Jr.
The target lot is located between the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal and National Intelligence Coordinating Agency near the Sandiganbayan along Batasan Road.