SAN MIGUEL, Bulacan—President Duterte led on Wednesday the groundbreaking ceremony of another National Housing Authority (NHA) project in this municipality.
Marcelino Escalada Jr., the NHA general manager, accompanied the President in lowering the time capsule that kicked off the construction of the Scout Ranger Ville Housing Project in Barangay Calumpang and Barangay Tartaro in the town of San Miguel.
They were joined by Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana; Gen. Eduardo M. Año; Amador Corpus, the Philippine National Police Director in Central Luzon, Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado, Vice Gov. Daniel Fernando; San Miguel Mayor Marivee Mendez-Coronel and other government officials and guests.
Escalada said the project is the “Biyayang Pagbabago”, a proof of Duterte’s continuing effort to recognize the services of Armed Forces of the Philippines/Philippine National Police (AFP/PNP) personnel. There are 10 sites in different parts of the country where they will build 10,910 housing units.
Classified under AFP/PNP Housing Program, the project came into realization after an agreement was entered into by and among the Manila Banking Corp. (Manilabank), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), NHA, Pag-IBIG Fund, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and the Scout Ranger Multipurpose Cooperative for the development of the 50-hectare portion of Manilabank’s property into a housing site for Scout Rangers.
A 200-million subsidy fund from DBM will finance the construction of the 1,000 housing units for the soldiers.
The proposed 42-square-meter loftable duplex housing model is 78 sq m in lot size. It has 31.20-sq-m ground-floor area; 10.80-sq-m loft area with a total floor area of 42 sq m.
The development features include 120 sq m (10mx12m) in lot size (average). It will have concrete roads with sidewalks, concrete curbs and gutters, reinforced concrete drainage pipes and water-distribution system with elevated water tank. Meralco will provide the power supply.
The land distribution is composed of 215,930 sq m, or 43 percent residential; 128,172 sq m, or 26 percent open spaces/community facilities; and 155,898 sq m, or 31 percent roads and easements.
Duterte said this project is in exchange of the housing units that Kadamay claimed. He added these houses are better and bigger compared to the previous units. The houses are expected to be available by December 2018. He will also reward them with P70,000 cash incentive. He said by January next year their salary will be doubled.
Duterte added the proposal is 42 to 62 sq m. They can lease the housing units to gain income for their incremental increase, to buy the arms they want and finance the education of their children, among others.
The president also shared his willingness to buy them choppers for air transport. They can also expect arms to come in from Russia.
Duterte said the illegal-drugs problem is a problem worldwide. It is not an issue of the government; it is an issue of criminals in the Philippines and in China getting together to create havoc in our country.
He is very sad that we’ve lost a lot of men in the Marawi City siege. They must be prepared because he believes that terrorism will not disappear for about seven to 10 years.
They will not disappear and will regroup anywhere and everywhere, he said. There will be violence everywhere. It will reach their retirement, and they must be prepared for that.
Duterte also reminded them to take good care of their health, particularly in consuming the right amount of carbohydrates, such as rice. Filipinos are rice lovers, which can lead to kidney and heart diseases, and diabetes when you reach 50 years old.
Image credits: King Rodriguez/Presidential Photo