Good news to members of the military and police! The National Housing Authority (NHA) is finishing the construction of the first batch of 500 housing units in Brgy. Acuit, Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo out of the 1,000 units earmarked for low salaried members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire and Protection and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Iloilo.
The housing program here is part of the P7 billion earmarked by President Benigno Aquino III to provide adequate and decent housing to over 260,000 members of the PNP and AFP. Phase II of the program covers projects in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Phase I covers the completed construction of 21,800 houses worth P4 billion in 2012 located in San Jose del Monte and Norzagaray in Bulacan; Baras and Rodriguez in Rizal; Calamba, Laguna and Trece Martires and General Trias in Cavite.
NHA Reg. Dir. Isagani Jalbuena said the Iloilo project also covers 50 housing units to be constructed in Sta Barbara, Iloilo as part of the 500 units soon to be constructed in another area in Iloilo. While another batch of 1,000 units are to be constructed in Brgy. Lunoy, Roxas City.
President Aquino had signed Administrative Order No. 9 last April 11, 2011 in creating the AFP/PNP Housing Project by ordering the NHA to implement and manage housing projects for more than 260,000 military and police personnel which was also expanded to include other units of the AFP and PNP.
Each house is a two-storey unit designed in row houses constructed in a 40 square meter lot and worth some P140,000 each. The selected beneficiary will have to pay P200 per month for the first five years and the remaining 30 years of payment will be computed with a compounded interest method to produce equally affordable amortization ranging from P400 to P800 only.
The NHA has targeted the construction of 370,00 housing units per year in order to help solve the 3.7 million housing units backlog of the government in the next 10 years. By Lydia C. Pendon
