THE national government will be constructing houses for farmers in various cities and municipalities across the country, according to the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
The DHSUD recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and 19 local government units (LGUs) to build houses for farmers under the BALAI Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs)/Farmers Housing Program.
DHSUD Secretary Eduardo D. del Rosario said the agency’s partnership with DAR is part of its mandate in capacitating the underprivileged, in this case the farmers.
“It is part of our responsibility to help informal settler families, especially the poorest of the poor, and capacitate them together with our key shelter agencies for them to be able to have a house of their own,” del Rosario was quoted in a statement as saying.
The MOU also aims to uplift farmers’ morale and strengthen their emotional attachments to their farms. This could strengthen the country’s agriculture sector, the DHSUD said.
Under the agreement, the LGUs are responsible for securing a property for the housing scheme. Land development will be shouldered by the DHSUD through the utilization of the balanced housing compliance.
The housing construction will be implemented in coordination with DHSUD key shelter agencies such as the Pag-Ibig Fund, the Social Housing Finance Corp. and the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp.
A total of 19 LGUs that previously met requirements will benefit from the MOUs signed in celebration of the 33rd anniversary of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
DAR Secretary John R. Castriciones considered the signing of the MOU a “monumental” undertaking especially for the farmers who have been considered among the poorest in the country.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that between 2006 and 2015, fishermen and farmers were consistently tagged as the poorest sectors of the society with a 34 percent poverty incidence rate.
“This is a milestone. I hope we would be able to sustain this. I hope that in God’s grace, we will achieve our vision of uplifting the economic lives of our farmers. We must work hand in hand because in unity, there is strength,” the DAR chief said. “This is a convergent effort. We need the cooperation of LGUs and other government agencies.”
Bani, Pangasinan Mayor Gwen P. Yamamoto said the farmers deserve all the help that could be afforded to them for playing a vital role—which is to provide food on the table to every Filipino household—at the height of the pandemic.
“Our farmers, the agrarian reform beneficiaries, in fact, are the ones who helped us overcome the hardship brought about by the pandemic by providing us food at a time when there was nothing left in the market,” Yamamoto said. The LGU of Bani is one of the signatories to the program.