GROUNDBREAKING. Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development Undersecretary Emmanuel Pineda (5th from left) and Asingan town Mayor Carlos Lopez Jr. (6th from left) lead the lowering of the time capsule and groundbreaking for the housing project under the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program in Asingan town, Pangasinan on Friday (Dec.15, 2023). Under the housing project, some 960 condo-type housing units will be constructed within five years. (Photo courtesy of Liwayway Yparraguirre)
ASINGAN, Pangasinan – Groundbreaking for the construction of the first township project under the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program (4PH) in the Ilocos Region was held Friday and construction is set in the first quarter of 2024.
The vertical-style housing project will have 10 buildings within the 21,351 square meters of land in Barangay Carosucan Norte this town. Each of the four-story buildings will have 96 units of 27 sq.m. condo-type units.
Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development (DHSUD) 4PH regional focal person engineer Sherwin Patanao, in an interview Friday, said the project is expected to be finished within five years, with the target to finish two buildings every year.
“This is just the first phase of the project and we hope to build more,” he said.
DHSUD Undersecretary Emmanuel Pineda, in his speech during the ground-breaking ceremony, said the township project will have amenities such as a swimming pool and playground.
“We wanted it to be breathable and liveable so instead of the 30 percent minimum open space, we made it to 40 percent for the quality of life of the occupants,” he said.
Pineda said the housing project is open to all Filipinos and vowed that it will be affordable for everybody, especially the informal sectors.
He said the housing unit is payable within 30 years, at PHP2,600 per month amortization on the first year and PHP3,600 per month in the following years.
He said they are also preparing for the guidelines on the interest subsidy including the graduated amortization, wherein only a percent of the usual six percent interest on each housing unit will be shouldered by the buyer while the five percent will be subsidized by the government.
Asingan town Mayor Carlos Lopez Jr., in an interview, said the local government unit is grateful for the project as they have been working on availing a housing project for their town since 2016.
“We have over 3,000 backlogs in housing, although only more than 1,000 are living under a bridge or within the irrigation line. But most families are living together under one roof as what most Filipinos do,” he said, citing as a factor to this the inability to pay for the mortgage.
Lopez said they have already approved 300 applicants, some of whom are overseas Filipino workers, tricycle drivers, teachers, and local and national government employees. (PNA)
