Bataan gov seeks investigation into low-cost housing project

BALANGA CITY — Bataan Gov. Enrique Garcia has ordered the 100 beneficiaries of a government housing project in an upland village in Samal town to vacate their units which he alleged to be suffering from structural defects due to substandard materials.

Garcia asked Vice President Noli de Castro, concurrent chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), to investigate alleged anomalies in the P200-million Bataan Peninsula Heights housing project.

He claimed that the deal inked by Pag-IBIG Fund and the provincial government over the housing project in Barangay Gugo on Dec. 1, 2000 was anomalous.

He expressed fear that the poorly built housing units may collapse or cave in during a heavy downpour or a geological disturbance, posing a grave threat to the lives of the 100 families.

Garcia has formed a team of construction experts from the provincial engineering office to evaluate the reliability of the housing units to withstand strong typhoons and tremors.

The governor was disturbed by the reports of some beneficiaries that their floorings have cracked and sunk.

Majority of the 205 housing units finished two years ago reportedly lack steel bars and if they have, the inspectors found them to be undersized.

The sprawling low-cost housing complex on a 50-hectare piece of land formerly owned by the Coloso family was foreclosed by the provincial government four years ago for non- payment of real property taxes.

Provincial engineer Enrico Yuson said the inspection team discovered no column and wall footing in 28 houses, and that correcting this problem would entail a huge sum.

Yuson quoted the team as saying that it would cost P20,000 to P45,000 to repair the building’s foundation and correct simple defects to make the units safe and habitable.

Records show that about P250,000 had been earmarked for each unit. If the figure was true, Yuson said the cost of labor should have been P75,000.

But he said a subcontractor revealed to him that only P15,000 was allegedly paid for labor under a contractual basis for the 10 houses he had built at the government housing project.

The subcontractor further claimed that most of the columns or posts of the housing units were constructed with lesser cement than that prescribed in the building code.

According to Yuson, a two-bedroom unit with an area of 120 square meters cost P395,000, and a three-bedroom unit with an area of 150 square meters, P595,000.