After the “Yolanda” victims, it is now the soldiers and policemen who are complaining about the houses built for them and their families.
Vice President Leni Robredo found herself at the receiving end of these complaints, from the design, quality and location of these houses.
Robredo, who is the chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), met with Armed Forces of the Philippines – Philippine National Police (AFP-PNP) Housing Board members on Tuesday to discuss their housing concerns. Joining them were other officials of HUDCC and the National Housing Authority (NHA).
Robredo
During their meeting, Commander Elpidio Trinidad Jr., chair of the AFP Housing Board, said that many soldiers expressed dissatisfaction on their 22-square meter houses built on 40 square meters of land.
Police Senior Superintendent Wilfredo Cayat also complained about the location of the housing sites that do not cater to the needs of the police. Apparently, he was referring to the sites that lack applicants while others do not have enough houses to meet the number of applications.
The construction of the housing units for soldiers and policemen earning lower salaries started during the time of then President Benigno Aquino III.
The government spent P20.78 billion to build those houses.
Amortization for one house is only P200 per month for the first five years, increasing to P1,330 per month by the 25th year.
Robredo, however, found a low occupancy in the houses for police and military personnel.
A report from the NHA showed that only 8,397 were so far occupied of the 60,738 housing units that were built as of Sept. 30. Those are located in Cavite, Bulacan, Quezon, Batangas, Camarines Sur, Laguna, Iloilo, Samar, Bohol, Cebu, Bukidnon, Zamboanga del Sur, Sulu, Surigao del Nore, Davao del Sur, and Maguindanao, among others.
Last August, Robredo visited the NHA housing project for police and military in Bocaue, Bulacan. The Vice President said she did not like what she saw, finding structural defects and cracks in the houses.
“While a few housing projects have been successful, the conditions of most of the houses in the sites I visited simply weren’t acceptable for the families of our soldiers and police,” she said.
Robredo underscored the need to “fill the gaps and fulfill the original objective of providing our soldiers and police with decent and affordable homes for their families.”
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