The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has approved the release of a Notice of Cash Allocation (NCA) amounting to P12.259 billion for housing assistance for calamity victims and the payment of resettlement of informal settler families in Western Visayas.
In a statement released on Thursday, DBM Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said the bulk of this amount or P12.059 billion will be allocated for the National Housing Authority (NHA) housing assistance for calamity victims (HAPCV).
The remaining amount worth P200 million will be for the construction of four units of 5-story, low-rise residential buildings in Region VI (Western Visayas) to resettle informal settler families (ISFs).
“Housing remains a priority for President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. as he strongly believes in the necessity of providing decent homes for Filipinos, particularly those adversely affected by calamities,” the budget chief said.
The request for payments, chargeable to previous years’ released allotments, was supported with a documented list of Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) with their respective amounts, status of fund utilization, and finance accountability reports—all of which the DBM confirmed to be in order.
The NHA is the sole national agency mandated to produce housing for low-income families. Under the administrative supervision of the Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development (DHSUD), the NHA functions as a production and financing arm in housing.
Earlier, the DHSUD requested for an additional budget of P15.9 billion to finance its various programs in 2024, including the recent executive orders (EO) for the inventory of idle lands and Pasig River Rehabilitation issued this year.
DHSUD officials and its key shelter agencies led by Housing Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar presented its case before members of the House of Representatives in its budget hearing with lawmakers.
The additional budget will be on top of the P5.405 billion that was appropriated by the DBM for the agency and its key shelter agencies for next year.
Based on the initial estimate of the DHSUD, the additional budget was P16.203 billion. However, during the hearing, National Housing Authority (NHA) General Manager Joeben Tai corrected the requested amount of his agency.
For the DHSUD, the additional requested amount is P975.7 million; for the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC), P6.919 billion; and for the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC), P3.33 billion.
Additional budget, the DHSUD said, would also cover EO 34 signed by the President last July 17, allowing the use of idle government lands for the administration’s housing program, and also provide a significant boost in efforts to address the country’s housing backlog.
A budget of P50 million is being requested to finance the efforts mandated by the EO. While the land to be used is all government land, therefore at no cost to DHSUD, the survey and other administrative costs that would allow them to follow the EO would be needed.
Further, adjustments in the budget will include EO 35 signed by the President last July 25, creating the Inter-Agency Council for the Pasig River Urban Development (IAC-PRUD) and designating the DHSUD as the head.
