DBM releases P5.5B for resettlement program

Monday 4th of June 2012

QUEZON CITY, June 4 (PIA) -- The Department of Budget and Management released P5.5 billion to the National Housing Authority (NHA) for its Resettlement Program to help improve living conditions of poor and at-risk Filipino families or those in calamity-stricken areas,

Under the program, housing units will be provided to family beneficiaries, mostly for off-city relocation and community facilities like schools, health and livelihood centers, and police outputs in the new housing sites.

The administration will also implement economic and community support programs, involving local government units (LGUs), other government agencies, nongovernment organizations and affected communities.

“If we were to merely relocate these communities without accounting for their basic needs, we would be doing the affected families a great disservice. The NHA will see to it that informal settlers will be resettled in homes they can call their own, with schools and community facilities well within reach,” Budget and Management Sec. Florencio B. Abad said in a press release.

He also said that Pres. Benigno Aquino III understands the urgency to relocate residents in high-risk or calamity-stricken areas to ensure their safety, especially now that the rainy season has begun.

The NHA said the program will cover the provision of 12,227 house and lot packages; 10,188 housing units; and 16,257 to the family beneficiaries nationwide.

According to the agency, the P5.5 billion fund will be divided as follows: P4.15 billion for NHA-administered rehousing activities, P1.006 billion will be directed to the LGUs for the Regional Resettlement Program, P82.6 million for housing support activities, and P252.4 for delivery of critical community support services to the relocated families.

Under the administered rehousing activities, around P2.7 billion will be utilized to transfer informal settler families in high-risk areas in Bulacan, Laguna, Metro Manila, Pampanga and Rizal and will cover families displaced from areas assigned for government infrastructure projects

Another P905.2 million from it will be allotted for families in condemned buildings or structures.

Lastly, P586 million of the P4.14 billion is earmarked for the relocation of calamity-affected poor and informal settlers families to safe areas and housing assistance for homes damaged but do not need to be transferred.

The total fund, according to NHA, will be charged against in its Corporate Operating Budget as programmed in FY 2012 General Appropriations Act.

“Ultimately, the Aquino administration aims to lead these communities away from poverty and toward full socio-economic growth,” Abad said. (NFK/GHQ)