Senate adopts joint reso empowering NHA to distribute unoccupied houses to informal settlers

December 11, 2017

The Senate adopted Monday a joint resolution authorizing the National Housing Authority (NHA) to award unoccupied and unawarded housing units of uniformed personnel to other qualified beneficiaries like informal settlers, calamity victims as well as middle income and low-salaried employees.

Senate Joint Resolution No. 8 was adopted with 17 affirmative votes, zero negative vote and no abstention. The resolution was introduced by Senators  Joseph Victor Ejercito and Loren Legarda.

A joint resolution, like a bill, requires the approval of both houses and the signature of the President. It has the force and effect of a law if approved. The House earlier approved the joint resolution and transmitted it to the Senate for adoption.

Ejercito said the NHA was mandated to build shelters for the military and police personnel through Administrative Order No. 9 issued in 2011 by then President Benigno Aquino III in recognition of their sacrifices “for putting their lives at risk to uphold the laws and maintain peace and order in the country.”

He said the government appropriated P20.87 billion to fund the housing program of the uniformed and military personnel from 2011 to 2015.

This program, called the AFP/PNP Housing Program, catered to the housing needs of the low-salaried uniformed personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), and later included the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

Ejercito said after six years of implementation of the AFP/PNP Housing Program, only a handful of the uniformed and military personnel had availed of the project.

He cited an NHA report which showed that as of July 31, 2017, only 14 percent or 8,837 units of the total 63,836 completed units were actually occupied.

He attributed the low occupancy rate to the constricted space of the housing units, lack of basic services such as water and electricity and lack of “proper consultation” with the intended beneficiaries.

“The housing unit size built for our uniformed personnel is only 18 to 22 square meters and the standard habitable space per person is seven square meters. The salaries of the uniformed personnel could well afford two to six times the house built for them. Sadly, this was not considered,” Ejercito said.

With the joint resolution, Ejercito said, the NHA would have a broader authority to award the shelters, not only to military and uniformed personnel, but also to low-salaried government employees and other qualified beneficiaries with the priority to the lower 30 percent income earners. DMS