Bf Jesiler P.
SFIFC's utilization rate is
Manalastas
IT is impoosible to build
more hoTsing unitswith
themeagerbudgetgiven
to the ne*vly-formed De-
parhnent of Housing Set-
tlements and Urban De-
velopment (DHSLJD).
Membersof theHouse
Committee on Appropri-
ations agreed that p5.29
billionisnotenoughtobuild
l2,W housing units in
2020.
Originaily,theDFISUD
targets at least 101,000
housing irnits for2020 and
requested a budget of
P48.8billion.
But the Deparbnent of
Budget an& Management
(DBM) only approved
P6.29 billion.
According to DHSUD
Secretary Eduardo Del
Rosario, based on the phil-
ippine Development plan
(PDP) 2017-2022, their
target should be 131,000
housing units per year
hence, there is
a disconnect
between the PDp and the
budget being gtven to the
housingsector.
Hesaidtheirtargetwas
to produce 101,000 hous-
ing units tn2tr2l,but this
will be drastically cut to
housing irnits since
12, 1 61
treir DBM-approved bud-
get was orrly P5.29
billion.
"Definitely with ttrat
budget, we couH fiotreactr
ow target. This is the sad
state of the housing sector
with the budget being giv-
enbytheDBM,"DelRosa-
rio said.
Marikina Rep. Stella
Luz Quimbo said eiven
the meager builget & ttt"
DHSUD, it would seem
that the biggest losers are
the National Housihg
Authority (NFIA) and the
Social Housing Finance
Corporation (SHFC).
QuimbosaidtheNFIA
asked for a P33.5 billion
!1{ge!, but was given only
P3.2billion while *rc SFIFe
asked for a 10.1.2 billion
budget, but was given only
P1.3 billion. "Ttds is really
a big one, I've never seen
cuts big
as as these,' euim-
bo said..
Quimbo said the
a negative because acfu al-
ly the agency is using its
own funds.
NFIAGeneralManager
Marcelino Escalada said
the reason given by the
DBM for their lowerbud-
get is the absoqptive ca-
pacity of the NHA.
NegrosOccidentalRep.
Francisco Benitez said
itis
disturbing to know that
the housing agency's
bud-
get proposal suffered a
huge cut. :
He said thaf popula-
tion and development
must gohand inhand, as
in fact families and house-
hold serve as the lynchpin
between population and
development.
DeputyMinorityLead-
er Bayani Fernando asked
the housing agencies about
the status of the planned
relocation of 250,000 in-
formal settler families in
MetroManila.
Fernando also asked
about the status of fund-
.
ing for in-city relocation
which is a more expensive
option. .
?qgo"