DILG Central News

Mar Roxas Hails Community, Private Sector Role in Housing Program December 5, 2012

photo of Secretary Mar Roxas delivers speech during groundbreaking ceremony of relocation houses in Malabon City

Manila, Philippines Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas today led the ground breaking for the first ever in-city relocation program in Malabon City that features the full participation of community members in partnership with the local government, civil society groups and the private sector.

He said the project will be the template for the Aquino government’s future housing efforts in other areas particularly those that are located near riverways and esteros that are at high risk from flooding.

“Ito ay magandang halimbawa ng sama-sama at tulong-tulong na pagkilos upang matupad ang mga adhikain ng ating mga mamamayan,” Roxas said in his keynote during the groundbreaking rites for the Marangal Village housing project in Barangay Longos, Malabon.
“This will now be our template. We will undertake similar housing projects using this model, one community at a time,” he said. “Magtutulong-tulong tayong lahat. Walang iwanan.”

The Marangal Village housing project involves the relocation of some 700 families living near waterways in three Malabon barangays whose homes are scheduled for demolition as part of the Supreme Court’s order to clean up and rehabilitate Manila Bay by decongesting and clearing up Metro Manila’s rivers and other tributaries.

The project will be undertaken by Habitat for Humanity which will build several medium-rise buildings in a 1.2 hectare property donated by the family of Mrs. Virginia Santos-Syjuco.

Roxas said the Department of the Interior and Local Government will assist the Malabon City government secure funding from President Aquino’s special fund for the resettlement of informal settler families which will be used to reimburse Habitat for Humanity’s cost in building the five-storey housing structures.

The beneficiaries, who are members of the Home Along the Riverways Initiative Coalition or HARICO, were themselves involved in the search and identification of a feasible resettlement site that is near their sources of livelihood and other social services. They were also consulted in the design of the housing units, taking into consideration the beneficiaries’ capability to pay the monthly amortizations.

The community members were supported by people’s organizations led by the Foundation for Development Alternatives, the Alyansa ng may Integridad na Maralita ng Malabon, the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor and DILG field officers as well as local officials led by Malabon City Mayor Antolin Oreta III.

“This is really the ideal housing solution, with the private sector taking the lead in the development while the government, through the DILG, helps secure funding and the community members and civil society groups ensuring the viability and success of Marangal Village,” Roxas said. ###

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