GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/13 October) — The National Housing Authority (NHA) has committed to build an additional 100 housing units in Tupi town in South Cotabato to facilitate the relocation of more informal settlers in the area.
Tupi Mayor Reynaldo Tamayo said Monday such development was an offshoot of a visit to the area last week by Vice President Jejomar Binay, who chairs the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).
The HUDCC holds administrative supervision over government housing agencies, including the NHA.
The mayor said the housing units, which will be benefit 100 poor and marginalized families situated in identified calamity danger zones, will be constructed at a resettlement site in Barangay Kalkam.
He said the NHA will process the grant for the project once the local government finalizes the acquisition of the project site.
“We’re very grateful for the additional 100 housing units from the NHA as it will fast-track our efforts to properly relocate our informal settlers,” Tamayo said.
During the Vice President’s visit to the area, which was part of a four-day swing in Region 12 last week, he personally inspected the NHA-funded Bagong Buhay resettlement site in Barangay Bunao.
The mayor said Vice President Binay took note of the use of indigenous materials for the housing units, which were given for free to the beneficiaries.
He said Binay cited that the case of the municipality was quite different with their other housing projects wherein the homeowners or beneficiaries were required to pay mortgages.
The municipal government of Tupi signed a memorandum of agreement with the NHA early last year for the development of the Bagong Buhay resettlement site.
NHA approved a P12 million grant for the project, which involves the construction of 100 housing units. The municipal government’s counterpart was set at P4 million.
Julgen Dajay, Tupi municipal planning and development coordinator, said they pushed for the implementation of the project to facilitate the resettlement of residents situated near the banks of critical waterways and other flood-prone areas within the municipality.
The local government earlier unveiled a 2.6-hectare resettlement project in Lower Poblacion to relocate around 40 families who were affected by a series of flashfloods in the area.
The development works are ongoing at the resettlement site, which could accommodate 288 houses. (MindaNews)