ILOILO City – This city’s housing board will conduct a house-to-house survey to determine the number of informal settlers for the master list of those needing housing.
This came with the enactment by the Sangguniang Panlungsod of the amended Iloilo City Local Housing Board (ICLHB) Ordinance during its regular session on Oct. 25, reviving the board, constituting new members, forming necessary committees and redefining its powers and functions.
Lawyer Peter Jason Millare, head of the Iloilo City Local Housing Office, said the huge backlog poses a challenge in building housing units.
“We will conduct a house-to-house survey so that we can determine the actual data of informal settlers to be declared by the city council or the LGU (local government unit) as the official baseline data. It will pave the way for the future policy that if you are a new structure, which you are not on the map, you were not tagged, you will be declared as a new structure, and with that, the LGU can abate you without needing for relocation,” he said.
Millare said there has to be a stopgap, and those in the master list will be the priority.
Among the potential beneficiaries of housing projects, other than walk-ins, are those with court ejectment orders.
Currently, they have no exact data on the backlogs, only a projection.
The Iloilo City Urban Poor Affairs recorded 12,300 informal settlers as of September 2022 and this is projected to balloon to 15,000 in 2028, taking into account a 4 percent increase per year.
Millare said the multisectoral ICLHB will serve as the policy-making body of the LGU on anything having to do with shelter programs, and his office will serve as the implementing arm.
“We are gearing towards participatory governance. In short, there is participation from the private sector, civil society organizations and people’s organizations as members,” he said.
The mayor and vice mayor will sit as chairperson and vice chairperson of the board, respectively, and the housing office as the secretariat.
It has six committees, including land acquisition, resettlement planning and physical development; beneficiary selection, arbitration and awards; estate management; relocation, eviction, and dismantling; sustainable livelihood and skills training program; and committee against squatting syndicate and professional squatters.
There is an ongoing construction of a housing project at the Uswag Residential Complex in Barangay San Isidro, Jaro district, funded under the General Appropriations Act and worked out by former senator Franklin Drilon before he stepped down from the Senate.
The National Housing Authority (NHA) assured Drilon, in an inspection last week, of its completion by May next year.
The project has four buildings with 60 units each, or a total of 240 units.
The city government also has an agreement with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) for the “Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino: Zero ISF Program for 2028.” (PNA)
