Some 2,400 urban poor families in two communities in Tondo, Manila, will finally get their own houses that were promised them 20 years ago after the House of Representatives opted to exercise oversight powers vested in it.

(L-R) PPA GM Jay Santiago (in white polo), Congressman Albee Benitez, House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo,  Congressman Manny Lopez, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, Senator Cynthia Villar, and Senior Vice President of International Container Terminal Christian Martin Razon Gonzalez (ALI VICOY / MANILA BULLETIN)

Former president and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who issued an executive proclamation during her presidency in 2001, led leaders of the Lower House in signing a memorandum of agreement that, in effect, will save the urban poor families from being relocated outside Manila to give way to the Manila Bay rehabilitation project.

Arroyo congratulated Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez for taking swift steps in pushing for the immediate implementation of Executive Order No. 108 that ordered the award of a lot owned by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) in Parola to its actual occupants.

Benitez, chairman of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development, together with Rep. Manny Lopez (NP, Manila), was also instrumental in getting involved government agencies to agree on implementing the housing project for the informal settlers in Isla Puting Bato.

Tuesday, February 26, 2019
BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN

Typhoon Yolanda victims in Negros Occidental, who are beneficiaries of the 27,055 permanent housing units, including those in EB Magalona, will no longer pay for them, National Housing Authority official Susana Nonato announced yesterday.

This is for free, Nonito, head of the NHA Project Implementing Team, said, apparently referring to housing units constructed by NHA developers for Yolanda victims in the Visayas.

Each 40-square meter lot housing unit costs P290,000, said Nonito, who turned over yesterday the 1,168 permanent housing units located at Tumandok Village in Brgy. Santo Niño, EB Magalona, to municipal officials led by Mayor Marvin Malacon.

posted February 25, 2019 at 09:50 pm by Maricel Cruz

Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez on Monday said there were some 1,200 hectares of idle government lands that could be used for mass housing.

Benitez, chairman of the House of Representatives’ committee on housing and urban development, said that instead of developing low-cost housing in places far from the livelihood of the people intended to live there, they might be relocated to near their places of work.

Published February 22, 2019, 6:51 PM
By Ben Rosario

The House of Representatives has moved to exercise its oversight power in the implementation of three presidential decrees that guaranteed housing benefits to Metro Manila’s urban poor.

In House Resolution No. 2067, Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez called for a congressional inquiry in aid of legislation on the implementation of Proclamation Nos. 96 (s. 2001) 518 (S. 1990) and 825 (S. 1996).

Benitez said former president and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo directed the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development to lead the oversight inquiry, adding that authority was given to conduct hearings even during the legislative break.

Benitez, chairman of the housing and urban development panel, said Proclamation No. 96 declared the Parola Estate in Tondo, Manila “open for disposition to its actual occupants.”