HOUSING REQUIREMENTS. Antonette Anaban, Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development-Cordillera Administrative Region regional director, during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas press briefing on Tuesday (Sept. 24, 2024) said they are on track with the construction of about 2,000 housing units annually, eyed to close the region’s 7,000 units gap. She said Baguio City has two projects, with a total of almost 4,000 units, while Tabuk City, Kalinga’s Lumin-awa housing project recently broke ground. (PNA photo by Liza T. Agoot)
BAGUIO CITY – The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) said it is on track on achieving its 2,000 annual housing units construction target to close the region’s 7,000-unit backlog.
During the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas press briefing here on Tuesday, DHSUD-CAR regional director Antonette Anaban said the target is attainable since the projects in the cities of Baguio and Tabuk, with around 4,000 housing units, will commence anytime now.
She said the developer for the nine buildings for the Lumin-awa housing project in Tabuk City, Kalinga has broken ground.
“The facility will be a township project complete with amenities where people will live in an urban area surrounded with a rural setting, having open spaces and gardens where food production can also be done,” she said.
The other project is the Luna Terraces of the city government of Baguio, where about 300 units will be made available once completed in 2025.
Anaban said this housing project was identified as relocation site for families currently residing in disaster prone areas and watershed areas, as well as calamity victims whose residences have been totally damaged.
The city government’s second housing area will be in the municipality of Tuba, Benguet and which will have around 3,666 housing units.
All three projects are under the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pamilyang Pilipino Housing (4PH) program.
Anaban said other local government units (LGUs) are also processing possible housing areas for their residents.
She said qualified beneficiaries will only pay 1.1 percent interest on the loan from Pag-IBIG, while the government will shoulder the balance of 5 percent.
All the housing projects eyed in the region are multi-level structures, with maximum of 10 storeys, given the issues about limited land area.
“In the Cordillera, only 15 percent of the total land area is alienable and disposable (A and D) because of our terrain that restricts land titling for areas classified as forestland due to the slope,” she said.
Thus, government housing agencies have requested for the conversion of about 100 hectares of land regionwide to be declared A and D, she added. (PNA)
