STATE-run Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) said it has sold its 14,000-square meter property in Manila for P258 million to the Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC) for the latter’s high-rise condominium project.
The GSIS said the property in Santa Mesa, Manila, sold to the government agency would be used for the construction of high-rise condominiums. The pension-fund manager added the project is expected to benefit a thousand informal settler families living in “critical zones.” These include members of the Ugnayang Lakas ng mga Apektadong Pamilya sa Baybaying Ilog Pasig at mga Tributaryo (Ulap-Manila).
GSIS President and General Manager Jose Arnulfo A. Veloso said they sold the property to support the Marcos administration’s program of providing affordable housing to Filipinos.
“Hindi po kami nag-atubili na ipagbili sa SHFC ang property sa Santa Mesa upang maibahagi sa ating mga kababayan na nangangailangan ng pabahay. Sa GSIS, walang ‘teka-teka,’” Veloso was quoted as saying in a statement the GSIS issued last Wednesday.
[We did not hesitate to sell our property in Santa Mesa to SHFC to be used for the housing of our countrymen in need of housing.]Veloso and SHFC President and CEO Federico A. Laxa signed the deed of absolute sale for the property on September 13 at the state pension fund’s headquarters in Pasay.
The GSIS recalled that in May, it introduced a “three-pronged” strategy to help in addressing the country’s housing shortage.
The government is eyeing to complete at least 100,000 constructed housing units under the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Housing (4PH) program by next year, according to the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD). (See https://businessmirror.com.ph/2023/07/03/pbbm-housing-program-4ph-to-build-100k-houses-by-next-year-dhsud/)
In a dialogue with various cause-oriented groups on housing issues last December, DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino L. Acuzar presented the administration’s plan to address the 6.5-million housing need in the country through the 4PH program, which aims to build a million housing units per year or six million housing units in six years. (See https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/12/27/dhsud-various-groups-hold-talks-on-housing-issues/)
