Defensor cites Las Piñas housing program

Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairman Michael Defensor has conferred a special award to Las Piñas City for its outstanding program in housing and urban poor development that benefited more than 150,000 informal settlers in Las Piñas.

The program dubbed as ‘Marangal na Pamayanan at Kaunlaran sa Kabuhayan,’ according to Mayor Vergel Aguilar, is aimed to improve the living condition of the economically-disadvantaged sector of the city.

Aguilar said the program focuses mainly on the development of depressed areas into model communities through road repair and construction, fabrication of drainage systems, provision of potable water and electricity, establishment of day-care and feeding centers, covered courts and construction of satellite public schools.

Livelihood training centers are also expanded in several communities to provide the residents with skills for gainful employment and to encourage them of putting-up a small-scale business to augment their income.

The Urban Poor Affairs Office (UPAO) of the city government also facilitates the awarding of land titles to informal settlers through the Community Mortgage Program (CMP) wherein 26,634 economically-disadvantaged families in Las Piñas have already availed and some are already in the process of availing the program.

The CMP is a program under the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) granting loans to urban poor associations with a very low interest rate for the acquisition of lots.

These families are presently organized into different communities such as the Sultana Homeowners, ALDHAI-Villa Pangarap Homeowners Association Inc., Everlasting Magkakapitbahay HAI, Garnet Assembly HAI, East Christian HAI, Christian Ugnayan HAI, San Isidro Village HAI, Christian Pag-ibig I, and Sunrise HAI.

Records from the city’s Urban Poor Affairs Office (UPAO) showed that almost seven hectares of land has been developed and converted into a first-class subdivision as part of the urban renewal and development program of Aguilar.

"The realization of a healthy and liveable community for our less fortunate brothers and to provide each family a place they can call their own is a legacy that I have ever wanted to fulfill," Aguilar, a three-time "Bayani ng Maralita" awardee, said.

Las Piñas informal settlers comprised 18 percent of the 528,011 total population of Las Piñas based on the recent census conducted by the National Census and Statistics Office NCSO.